REUTERS/Adriano MachadoBRASILIA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday picked a trusted ally, former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad, as his finance minister, ending days of speculation over a key ministerial appointment.
Lula is set to take office on Jan. 1 after narrowly defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October.
After the nomination of Haddad, a stalwart of Lula's Workers Party (PT), Brazil's real , fell as much as 1.3% against the dollar before paring losses.
As the mayor of Brazil's largest city from 2013 to 2016, Haddad renegotiated its debt with the federal government, reducing it by about 50 billion reais.
Since losing his re-election bid as mayor in 2016, Haddad has described himself as a college professor on Twitter.