Jonathan Wheatley, the FT’s Brazil correspondent, recently interviewed Dilma Rousseff, chief of staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Mr Wheatley and Richard Lapper, the FT’s Latin America editor, also spoke with Celso Amorim, Brazil’s foreign minister, and Mr Lapper talked with Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister.

FINANCIAL TIMES: There seems to have been a change of emphasis in economic policy in Brazil, towards a more state-led model. Is that a fair assessment?