If Re-Elected, 'New Government, New Team': Brazil's Rousseff

Sao Paulo: Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff said she would make changes in her cabinet if elected for a second term after a reporter asked her on Thursday if she planned to replace Finance Minister Guido Mantega.

But Rousseff said she would not name her future ministers unless she is re-elected in an apparent jab at opponent Aecio Neves, who has already said former central bank governor Arminio Fraga would be his finance minister.

"New government, new team, I have no doubt about that," she said while campaigning in the northern city of Fortaleza. "There is one thing I don't do - I don't appoint ministers... I think that is wrong... I was not (yet) elected."

The most recent polls show Rousseff would lose in a second round run-off to one-time militant environmentalist Marina Silva, in part because voters have lost confidence in her government's economic policy.

Data last week showed Brazil's economy slipped into recession in the first half of the year. Mantega has lost credibility with investors after years of giving what are widely considered overly optimistic economic forecasts.