There is no change from a qualitative point of view, says Guedes about review in Caged

the minister Paulo Guedes spoke this Friday (5) about the data review of the Caged (General Register of Employed and Unemployed) which reduced the generation of jobs by half in 2020. For him, “there is no change from a qualitative point of view”, thinking about the phenomenon of job generation.

During the III International Trade and Services Conference of the Mercosur, Guedes also spoke about the importance of PEC of Precatório. The agreement to reduce the tariff on traded products by 10% was cited by the minister as a step towards the bloc’s modernization.

“We’ve protected 11 million jobs in the formal market [durante a pandemia], with a net balance in job creation. There is no change from a qualitative point of view if it created 3 million or 3 million and 50 thousand jobs, as Caged reported in the error. It does not change the phenomenon, Brazil has preserved 1/3 of formal jobs”, he stated.

Guedes also said that Brazil was able to afford the additional expenses to face the pandemic, maintaining the goal of reducing the debt-GDP ratio (Gross Domestic Product). In this sense, he cited auctions, privatizations and deleveraging of public banks as essential to avoid a rise in debt.

He also defended the PEC dos Precatórios, which, according to the minister, arose due to a high “out of control, a vertiginous escalation” in the value of precatory, amounts that the government must pay after court decisions.

“We will never question the merits of court decisions, they have to be complied with, but one thing is the feasibility of a budget and the predictability of these expenses. The first formulation of the PEC for Precatório is to pay small amounts and split the larger ones, in order to provide more predictability of public spending”, he said.

With that, Guedes stated that the PEC can submit expenses to the spending ceiling. The values ​​that exceeded the ceiling would be “paid in the following year or immediately with a menu of offers that were offered, such as privatizations, auctions”.

“We are now waiting for this fiscal equation. And we need this consolidation so that our international agenda can continue, first because we are making these agreements, which were interrupted by the pandemic and we are working to get out of this black hole”, he said.

Mercosur

The Economy Minister also spoke about Brazil’s relationship with Mercosur, an economic bloc created in the 1990s that brings together Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.

For him, the bloc “created a favorable environment for sustaining liberal democracies in the southern region of Latin America, but it was not successful from an economic point of view.” Guedes defended a modernization of Mercosur to allow greater integration with international trade.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to transform Mercosur into this global insertion platform. Brazil continues to be one of the most closed economies in the world,” he said. The first step towards this, according to him, is the implementation of a 10% reduction in tariffs for 87% of products traded between member countries.

“It is important that Mercosur allows us more flexibility, to encourage, help in this process due to the greater strength of the integrated region.”

Also during the event, Guedes argued that the Petroleum Brazil is further explored before it becomes a “fossil souvenir” as the world migrates to renewable sources.

He also stated that Brazil plans to increase the presence of its agenda in the G20, a group of the 20 largest economies in the world, in a context of emerging countries, assuming the rotating presidency of the organization for the next 3 years.

“We want a look at who has best exploited natural resources in recent decades, and there has to be a payment for that. Brazil is champion in this. We have to change the axis of this conversation a little”, he stated.

Guedes also criticized European countries like France and Belgium for being “using an environmental argument to attack Brazil in defense of their agricultural sector protectionism”. The countries are among the main opponents of the ratification of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.

“The standing tree is worth more than the one on the ground, and we are developing the carbon credit market and low carbon agriculture. If there is a subsidy in agriculture, let it be for the small producer or for the green agenda. And we already have 15% wind and solar power and nuclear power restoration. Brazil is green, it is a digital park. He will be an important protagonist of the green and digital future”, he said.