The 1st Brazilian Economy Week brings together in Rio de Janeiro, starting this Monday (1st), academics and economists to debate the main advances that have marked the last 40 years of the country’s economy, after the resumption of democracy. The director of Planning and Institutional Relations at the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Nelson Barbosa, opened the event.
“If you focus only on the short term, you fail to look mainly at the advances we have made in the last 40 years”, he stated.
The week will last until the 5th. Experts debate economic issues that have occurred in the country since 1985. Among them, the external debt crisis and high inflation, stabilization with exchange rate crisis, growth with income distribution, internal crisis with stagnation.
Director of Planning and Institutional Relations at BNDES, Nelson Barbosa. Photo – Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil
Barbosa highlighted that the week of celebration is the first of several others to come.
The idea of holding the event arose from work that the financing bank had already been promoting since the current president, Aloizio Mercadante, took office. “It’s about recovering the role of BNDES in promoting the debate on Brazilian economic policy,” he said.
During the event, in the morning, the country’s crises and recovery were recalled, as well as its position as a focus on growth, poverty reduction, integration into the labor market and job creation.
Brazil managed to stabilize and make progress, said Barbosa. We managed to reduce poverty and create a universal public health system in a country with more than 100 million inhabitants. We have an income transfer network that helps combat poverty and the dangers of crisis, such as the Covid 19 pandemic. And today we are in the traditional debate of all democracies, which is the fiscal debate”.
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Challenges
Barbosa commented on the importance of the discussion at this time. “We continue to experience major transformations that require reflection based on formulations and, mainly, based on concepts.” He considers that it is necessary to be able to build consensus in the old institutional sense, which can withstand shocks.
“This is more important than ever, because we are experiencing great challenges. Brazil is one of the most developed countries in the world. And in countries with the degree of inequality we have, the obvious solution to rebalancing the budget is a progressive tax policy.”
The director cited Aloizio Mercadante, who believes that Brazil’s development has to be for everyone. “It’s not for 30%, it’s not for a minority, it has to be for everyone. We have to overcome the challenge of growth with inclusion.”
He also said that, on a much better basis than 40 years ago, “a lot of progress has been made in social indicators, in diversity”.
“Not only did we open more universities, but we also opened the doors of universities when it comes to training women. And we have new challenges in the 21st century.”
Climate change is one of the challenges, and it cannot be faced without government action. “The risk is too big, the investment is too big, the time required is too much.” He highlighted the need to make an energy transition and preserve forests. It is very important that our forests are rebuilt in the coming years.”
Another challenge of this century is demographic, he highlighted. In his assessment, people are living with better quality, productivity is rising, it is possible to sustain the population in increasing order, focusing on the standard of living. “But this also requires rethinking our pension, education and health systems. And this is a challenge that will get bigger and bigger.”
In addition to the financial part, Nelson Barbosa sees a growing technological transformation in Brazil, which has never stopped looking at industrial evolution.
“With new artificial intelligence technologies changing the reality of our lives, it is necessary to generate quality jobs. It is employability that makes millions of people. These changes are occurring in all countries. And we have to know how Brazil will fit into this new technology, this new division of labor, this new way of organizing the international economy.”
According to Barbosa, open and transparent debate about the economy, with the costs and benefits of each alternative, can help in decision-making. “Everything in life has a risk, including doing nothing. We need to discuss what the challenges are and, above all, listen to teachers and researchers”, he concluded.
