Easy and populist path does not lead us to a good destination, says Paulo Hartung about PEC

The historical preference in Brazil for creating new expenses to the detriment of revising old financial obligations in the federal budget creates an uncomfortable scenario for public accounts, which ends up culminating in a higher tax burden and inflation, according to Paulo Hartung, economist and former governor of Espírito Santo Holy.

“Do we really need new money? Because, in Brazil, that’s how it is, nobody wants to organize the expenses that are in progress, everybody wants to get some new money. But new money is a tax burden with debt or inflation”, he said in an interview with CNN this Tuesday (22).

“And between the easy and populist path, the short-term view and the right path, we need to learn to take the right path in the country. The easy path does not lead us to a good destination, history shows us that”.

For Hartung, the elected government has three main challenges starting next year: pacifying the country, anchoring economic expectations and facing the problem of hunger that grew again during the pandemic.

“Is it possible to re-anchor our country’s economic expectations and, at the same time, take care of helpless Brazilians? It is possible, ”she said.

The final text of the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of the Constitution should be presented this Tuesday, as told CNN Wellington Dias, budget coordinator of the transition team of the elected government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The project aims to remove the Auxílio Brasil of R$ 600 from the tax ceiling. The draft of the text was delivered to the Senate by the vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) on November 16th.

See the full interview in the video.

*Published by Ligia Tuon.