In 2001, he served as deputy justice minister in the interim government that followed the fall of President Alberto Fujimori and received the Order of the State Civil Service for his services to the nation in working on a strategy to battle corruption.

BBC: Profile: Peruvian Prime Minister Juan Jimenez Mayor

Xu Yaotong, research director at the National School of Administration, a civil service training institute, tells Xinhua that the State Council is unlikely to introduce radical cuts.

BBC: China media: Mekong justice

Lula says encouraging things about withdrawing the state from the economy and professionalising the civil service, but has not done much of either.

ECONOMIST: The Economist talks to Brazil's president