President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, this Monday (3), that he does not agree with the “negative assessment” that predicts the country’s growth at less than 1%. “Let’s see what will happen when the so-called micro, small and medium economy starts to happen in the corners of this country. Let’s see what will happen when people start producing more, buying more, selling more. We will realize that the economy will make an important leap forward, ”he said.
The financial market forecast for the growth of the Brazilian economy this year is 0.9%, according to the Today’s Focus newsletter. The Ministry of Finance designs the Gross Domestic Product (GDP, the sum of all goods and services produced in the country) by 1.6%.
There are also forecasts from the Central Bank, which is 1.2%, according to the Inflation Report released last week, and the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), which foresees a GDP of 1.4% this year.
President Lula meets ministers at the Planalto Palace – Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil
Lula headed today the third expanded meeting with ministers, this time from the productive and institutional area, at the Planalto Palace. He resumed public agendas after leaving to treat pneumonia.
Last month, the president already gathered ministers from the area of infrastructure, to discuss the new investment plan of the federal government, replacing the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), and ministers of the social area. The purpose of these meetings is for each portfolio to present an assessment and projection of what will be announced in the framework of 100 days of government, next week, in addition to plans for 2023 and the coming years.
For Lula, Brazil will grow more than “the pessimists are predicting”, as long as the government also believes in that growth and makes the necessary investments.
“More will happen in Brazil than people are expecting and it will depend a lot on the government’s disposition. It will depend a lot on the willingness and speech of the people in the economic area, in the productive area, because if we are just lamenting what we think will not happen, nobody will invest in a horse that does not run. If you are in a horse race saying that your horse is a pangaré, that your horse has the flu, that it is tired, nobody will place any bets”, argued the president.
Present at the meeting, Lula mentioned the ministers of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, and of Finance, Fernando Haddad. “If you look at the face of Minister Fávaro who returned from China with a group of businessmen, you will see that he is 150% optimistic. If you look at Haddad’s face after the regulation mark what he did, look at his happy face, it means that we are believing that our long-awaited new tax policy will pass in this country”, exemplified the president about the optimism of the team with their projects.
Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, and Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet – Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil
For him, the government’s “obsession” is to make investments and boost job creation. “We have to be obsessed with making this country grow again. Because the country is growing, it will generate jobs, it will generate wages, it will generate an increase in consumption by the people and then the ferris wheel of the economy will start working again and everyone will be optimistic in this country”, he said.
100 days
Next Monday (10), the government completes 100 days in office and, according to Lula, there will be a meeting with all his ministers to present the work plan for the next periods.
According to him, the new management managed to recover almost all the social policies that had been “dismantled” by the previous government. “It seems that Água para Todos or Luz para Todos is missing, this program that is the last social program that we are going to launch”, he said.
