“What is this story of social and fiscal conflict?”, asks Guedes

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes questioned an alleged conflict between payment of social benefits and fiscal responsibility on the part of the government. The minister participated in a lecture at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Secretariat for Economic Policy of the Ministry of Economy, this Friday (18).

“We launched the biggest social program ever and with fiscal responsibility, so what is this story of social and fiscal conflict? Don’t believe the political narratives, believe the numbers. If you make less noise and work more with your head and less with lies, maybe it could be a good government. It just depends on not lying. It depends on other things too”, said the minister.

The Head of the Special Advisory Office for Economic Studies at the Ministry of Economy, Rogério Boueri, also criticized the discourse that fiscal and social responsibility are incompatible.

“So, fiscal responsibility is not incompatible with the country’s social development, quite the contrary, what can jeopardize the country’s social development is for us to lose track of fiscal policy, we begin to no longer be able to roll over our debt at acceptable rates and increasingly further derail the Brazilian economy,” said Boueri.

During the opening table of the event, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida, showed dissatisfaction with the comparison between President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and President Jair Bolsonaro, in relation to the source of funds for the Brazil Aid.

“Our economic policy has always been guided by a model of general equilibrium. Every time we increased expenses, at the time, we either stopped the increase in future expenses, or we compensated through revenue. So, you can’t take it and say like this: ‘the Transitional PEC government will spend the same as the Bolsonaro government would spend, so you can’t complain’”, said the minister.