The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, participated today (26) in the morning of a panel discussion on the global economic situation at the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland.
According to the minister, international authorities initially doubted the domestic economic capacity to deal with the pandemic. Guedes recalled that the estimated economic downturn for the country reached 9.7% – higher than that of European countries. However, the country had a retraction of 3.6% in its gross domestic product (GDP) and grew 4.6% in the following year, contrary to pessimistic forecasts.
“We did better than all other countries on the fiscal issue. The only country that had a better domestic fiscal result than us was Singapore,” he said.
“The main idea is: we made a lot of renovations. Instead of growing 7, 8 or 9% with a large deficit, we removed all tax incentives during the recovery”, said Guedes, who also explained that the country managed to reverse the distrust presented in the first participation of the Jair Bolsonaro government in the forum.
Guedes explained the strategies applied by the government during the pandemic, such as job preservation programs and emergency aid, in addition to highlighting the importance of Auxílio Brasil in the period after the end of health restrictions.
The Brazilian Minister of Economy also reinforced that, despite being classified as “noisy”, Brazilian democracy is stable and reliable, and that there is no reason to question the positive results presented by the current administration.
After the panel, the minister reported a change “in the climate” among fellow ministers of economy and finance from other countries, which he classified as positive, and also said that the international focus in Brazil concerns partnerships for sustainable initiatives, such as the renewable energy generation.
