Haddad defends the middle path, strokes Congress and criticizes Guedes without mentioning him

The middle path will be the strategy of the new Minister of Finance. In his inaugural speech, Fernando Haddad argued that the new economic team should seek convergence by positioning itself between desire and possibility. With this plan, he promises to give sustainability to public accounts and sew a new fiscal rule, but he did not anticipate details of this plan. The new minister also took the opportunity to flatter the National Congress and also criticize the now ex-minister Paulo Guedes.

“If you propose an unattainable goal, you have no goal at all. If you propose a goal that is not ambitious, you don’t motivate the country. It is in this fine balance between ambition and feasibility that we are going to exercise our mandate”, summarized Haddad in his inauguration speech this Monday morning. This middle path was the central message of the new minister’s 28-minute speech.

Haddad argues that the search for convergence must take place on several fronts. He cited as an example the relationship between the Ministry of Finance and the now independent Central Bank. “There is no fiscal or monetary policy in isolation. What exists is economic policy, which needs to be harmonized, ”he said.

“We need to seek an understanding of the fiscal authority and the monetary authority seeking balance.” Haddad believes that, with a credible fiscal policy, the real will appreciate – which will help control inflation.

Relationship with the market

Contrary to criticisms of the financial market made by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in recent speeches, Haddad used a respectful tone when talking about economic agents. He said that it is necessary to restore investor and citizen confidence.

The new minister says that “there is no magic, nor financial juggling” in managing the economy, and defended that management must have “economic predictability, investor confidence and transparency with public accounts”. This credibility, he says, will be built with “objective, demanding but feasible goals to give the country the confidence it needs to grow again”.

In this effort to regain credibility, the new minister says he likes a strong State, but “not a big, obese State”. “It is a state that delivers responsibly,” he said.

In the half-hour speech, Haddad twice praised the effort of the National Congress that approved the PEC that opened space for the payment of Bolsa Família. For the minister, the approval of the text even before taking office is a sign of the importance of “dialogue with Congress with good arguments, an open spirit, with humility”.

service station network

Finally, Haddad did not mention the name of the now ex-minister Paulo Guedes, but criticized him a few times. He said the transition between the two economic teams was “terrible”. The tone is quite different from that heard in recent days, when Haddad even praised the meetings with the former minister.

“It’s really bad to have all your eggs in one basket. And that’s what was done. We want to act collegially. We want to hear from society. We are not here to teach”, said the Minister of Finance. In Brasilia, Guedes is cited as eloquent in his arguments and that, at times, he uses a professorial tone in meetings.

The new minister even made a joke with the nickname of Paulo Guedes. “We were the Ipiranga station, and now we are a network of stations. There are four that will make a difference in Brazil”, he said, citing the ministers of the economic area: Esther Dweck (Management), Geraldo Alckmin (Development, Industry and Commerce) and Simone Tebet (Planning and Budget), in addition to Haddad himself.