President Jair Bolsonaro said today (22) that, despite the global crisis, Brazil is reaching the end of 2022 with an “economy in full recovery”. When opening the debate session of the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), Bolsonaro highlighted the good numbers of the country’s economy, such as the fall of inflation It’s from unemploymentand the implementation of reforms to attract investment.
“We are carrying out a comprehensive agenda of privatizations and concessions, with an emphasis on infrastructure,” he said. “In 2021, Brazil was the fourth largest destination for foreign direct investment in the world. Our foreign trade reached the historic mark of 39% of GDP [Produto Interno Bruto, soma dos bens e serviços produzidos no país], even reducing or eliminating taxes on thousands of products. Domestically, we are also breaking records in three areas: tax collection, state-owned company profits and the public debt-to-GDP ratio,” he added.
In his speech, Bolsonaro mentioned the works of the São Francisco River transposition project and the adoption of new regulatory frameworks, such as basic sanitation, railways and natural gas. In addition, he spoke about projects aimed at improving the business environment, such as the Economic Freedom Act and the Start-ups Act.
“The economy has started to grow again. Poverty has increased across the world under the impact of the pandemic. In Brazil, it has already started to fall sharply. The numbers speak for themselves. It is estimated that, by the end of 2022, 4% of Brazilian families will be living below the extreme poverty line. In 2019, it was 5.1%. This represents a drop of more than 20%,” she said.
The president also celebrated the drop in fuel and electricity prices. “I want to point out that the cost of energy has not dropped because of price fixing or any other type of state intervention. It was the result of a tax rationalization policy formulated and implemented with the support of the National Congress,” he said.
In June, the law was passed which provides for the levy, for a single time, of the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) on fuels, including imported fuels, electricity, communications and collective transport.
According to Bolsonaro, in the face of this “effort to modernize the Brazilian economy”, the country is moving towards becoming a full member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Sustainable development
When talking about the environment, the president highlighted the energy transition promoted by Brazil and the growing investments in the production of clean energy. “Brazil began its energy transition almost half a century ago, in reaction to the oil crises of that time. Today, we have a modern and sustainable biofuels industry. Industry that contributes to the cleanest energy mix among the G20 countries,” he said.
According to him, the country has the capacity to be a major world exporter of clean energy. “We have a surplus, already under construction, that can reach more than 100 gigawatts between biomass, onshore and solar wind, in addition to the unexplored opportunity of 700 gigawatts of offshore wind, with one of the lowest production costs in the world. . These sources will produce green hydrogen for export. Part of this 100% clean energy opens the possibility for us to be suppliers of highly competitive industrial products, especially in the Brazilian Northeast, with one of the smallest carbon footprints in the world”, he highlighted.
international conflicts
For the Brazilian president, the solution to the conflict in Ukraine will be achieved through negotiation and dialogue. “In the United Nations and in other forums, we have tried to avoid blocking the channels of dialogue, caused by the polarization around the conflict. It is in this sense that we are against diplomatic and economic isolation”, he said, highlighting his concern about the consequences of the conflict, such as the rise in world prices of food, fuel and other inputs.
“These impacts put us all against the Sustainable Development Goals. Countries that used to be leaders of the low carbon economy now turn to dirty sources of energy. This sets up a serious setback for the environment,” he said. “We support all efforts to reduce the economic impacts of this crisis. But we do not believe that the best path is the adoption of unilateral and selective sanctions, contrary to international law. These measures have hampered the recovery of the economy and affected the human rights of vulnerable populations, including in European countries,” he added.
The president advocated reform of the UN, specifically the Security Council. “After 25 years of debates, it is clear that we need to seek innovative solutions”, he defended. In the biennium 2022-2023, Brazil occupies a non-permanent seat in the entity.
Bolsonaro arrived in New York last night (19) for the annual general debate, when world leaders gather at the UN headquarters to discuss global issues. The high-level sessions go until next Monday (26).
Traditionally, it is up to the President of Brazil to deliver the opening speech at the General Assembly. This year’s theme of the general debate and the 77th session of the assembly is “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interconnected challenges.” Prior to his participation, Bolsonaro met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and met with the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso. Still on the agenda for this afternoon, there is a videoconference with entrepreneurs in the supermarket sector. The president is expected to leave New York for Brasília in the late afternoon.
