Getting Brazil Back On Track.(Arminio Fraga Neto)(Brief Article)(Interview)

If he had followed family tradition, Arminio Fraga Neto might have been peering through a microscope rather than poring over flowcharts. His grandfather served as Brazil's Health minister, and his father was a renowned dermatologist. But Fraga studied economics, at Rio's Catholic University and at Princeton. After stints with Salomon Brothers, Brazil's Central Bank, Columbia University and George Soros Fund Management, he returned to the Central Bank as president in March 1999. Fraga, 44, spoke with NEWSWEEK's Mac Margolis at his office in Rio de Janeiro.

MARGOLIS: Who is harder to work for, George Soros or Brazil?

FRAGA: Oh, Brazil. No contest. Working for George was terrific. He's a very objective, no-nonsense sort of person. You knew what the rules were. It was a high-pressure environment and a challenge. But nothing like what we do here, where decisions effect hundreds, millions of people.

You were earning a lot of money working for Soros. Why did you come back to Brazil?

My wife, Lucyna, and I had been in the United States for six years. Our kids were teenagers. And we decided it was time.

Did you have something quieter in mind?

Definitely. I thought about starting something of my own and teaching part time. Then Brazil's economy got into a bit of turbulence, they offered me the Central Bank job and I took it, almost on the spot. The kids were in the middle of the schoolyear. But they backed me up, and here I am now.