Economist Miranda Sarmento named Portugal's new finance minister

LISBON (Reuters) -Economist Joaquim Miranda Sarmento was named Portugal's new finance minister on Thursday as President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa approved the formation of a centre-right minority government.

The Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition won a general election on March 10 by a slim margin over the outgoing Socialists, falling far short of securing a working majority in a fragmented parliament.

The new government is led by Prime Minister-designate Luis Montenegro, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), part of the AD.

With a doctorate in finance from Tilburg University in the Netherlands, Miranda Sarmento, 45, is a professor at the ISEG-Lisbon School of Economics and Management and has recently been a leading economic policy advisor to Montenegro.

After working in the finance ministry for a decade, Miranda Sarmento advised then President Anibal Cavaco Silva in 2012-16, and has led the parliamentary bench of Montenegro's PSD since July 2022.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Susan Fenton)

By Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony