The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, said this Wednesday (17) that the current government will be the first to leave spending less than when it entered. The speech was made during a panel at an event by Tag Investimentos.
“As for the deficit and sustainability, we were also very careful. Nobody would be able to keep the ceiling in a war, the ceiling is precisely to guarantee that the recurring expenses with salaries of the civil servants, with the cost of the public machine, that this has a limit, that it does not grow and that it does not swell the government. We are the first government that will come out spending less than when it came in,” he said.
Still on the results obtained by the government and the spending ceiling, the minister explained that the ceiling was “retractable” to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and, now, the war in Ukraine.
“We really fight the disease. In this sense, I said that the roof was retractable, we opened the roof to go out to fight the disease, the disease ended, the expenses were not recurring. We ensured that extraordinary transitory expenses with health did not turn into permanent expenses with the machine… Now the war in Ukraine has begun. Open the roof again, let’s fight Ukraine, but with, at all times, transitional measures and also paid for by unbudgeted extraordinary income”.
Guedes also took stock of the primary deficit at the beginning of the government, during the pandemic and the expectation for this year.
“For you to have an idea. We had a deficit of 2% of GDP when we arrived, primary, we reduced it to 1%. When the disease arrived, we went to 10.5% of GDP, the following year, in 2021, it went back to 0.4% and this year it is already going to a small primary surplus”, he explained.
The minister also stated that the Green and Yellow Card, a reform that eases labor charges, will be resumed in a possible second government of Jair Bolsonaro.
growth and jobs
Regarding growth expectations, the minister said he believed that the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by more than 2.5% this year. The current official government projection is at 2%.
Guedes also predicted that the recovery of the economy will be greater than expected and the unemployment rate will reach 8% by the end of the year.
Continuity in charge
During the event, Guedes also stated that he will continue in office in the eventual re-election of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
In addition, he defended that the tax reform be approved soon after the elections, reinstating the creation of a tax on dividends as a source of funding for the Auxílio Brasil program and a correction of the table of Income Tax for individuals.
Latin America
When assessing the economic situation in neighboring countries and in Latin America, the minister said that Argentina is on the path to misery, given the economic crisis that is plaguing the country. According to Guedes, Latin America is “falling apart” with the elections of left-wing presidents.
“Argentina is on the path of Venezuela, on the path of misery,” he said. The minister used this example to state that he believes that the government is promoting a transformation, which he calls the path of prosperity.
*With information from Reuters and Estadão Content
Source: CNN Brasil
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