If President Jair Bolsonaro is re-elected in October, the reform agenda will resume, including the privatization of Petrobras. The assessment is by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes. But if the polls give victory to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the minister predicts “economic stagnation and tax increases”.
During a press conference after participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Minister Guedes spoke about the prospects for the Brazilian economy ahead of the presidential elections.
In the event of Bolsonaro’s re-election, the minister expects the maintenance of the governing majority in the Legislative and the advancement of the economic agenda. “With this more center-right Congress, we will expand the reforms. We are going to privatize Petrobras, we are going to make more trade agreements, like with Asia. We are going to do much more than what we have done so far.”
Guedes also spoke about the hypothesis of Lula’s victory. Without mentioning parties or names and referring to past governments as “social democrats”, the minister said that it is possible to predict what should happen based on what happened in recent governments.
“We have the ‘track record’ of them 30 years. It is economic stagnation, tax increases, indebtedness.” track record is an economic term about looking at the past as an indicator of possible future behavior.
The minister, however, recognized a positive fact of past governments. “They have one merit: the inclusion of the most fragile in the public budget. It is a soft heart, but a hard head”, he compared, citing that protection for the poor is correct, but that other economic policies are wrong.
At the end of the interview, Guedes was asked about the chance to return as Brazil’s Minister of Economy at the next edition of the World Economic Forum, in January 2023. Therefore, after the presidential elections. And the minister joked with the journalists. “The pizza is already arranged,” he replied. “If I come back, you pay. If I don’t come back, you’ll eat the pizza on me. Even without being here”.
Source: CNN Brasil
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