Panel SA: Febraban defends institutional security and serenity in election

Febraban made a new gesture to defend democracy and institutional security as fundamental conditions to maintain the engines of growth in the country, with job creation and income transfers.

Isaac Sidney, who this Friday (19) spoke at an event in which representatives of the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches also participated, urged political forces to put aside attacks and offenses and be guided by the debate of ideas and proposals.

“We know that elections are disputed between opponents who antagonize positions. That’s part of it, but I make a point: let’s be tireless in seeking serenity of minds to prevent the democratic dispute for the vote from turning into an arena of attacks, offenses and personal and mutual aggression “, he said at the event of the Esfera Brasil group, in São Paulo.

Sidney also defended the weight of private investment and the conditions that favor it. He states that the public sector investment model of the 1980s has been exhausted, and the country must build a new model under the leadership of private capital, which needs to lead the investment process, especially in the areas of infrastructure.

“Public authorities have to act in essential, social and health areas, strengthen regulatory agencies, digitize services, etc. For that, we need a state reform that goes beyond just talking about salary, civil service, career. It’s citizen-centricity, as in the private sector you have consumer-centricity,” said Sidney.

He also advocated fiscal balance.

“The state can perfectly have this centrality, but never giving up a balance of public debt. This discussion of ending or not with a ceiling or having or not a new fiscal anchor seems to me to be an excuse for not recognizing that we have a problem of fiscal restriction. What is the size of the Budget? That’s it. The rest we’re going to look for investment. Whether there’s going to be an anchor or not, drill the ceiling, put a floor, raise the ceiling, that’s not relevant. The essential thing is to have fiscal discipline and a mechanism credible tax,” he said.

It is necessary to give security to economic agents, according to him. “What we cannot do is normalize institutional surprise. If there is a pandemic, calamity, take 10% of the budget and channel it to address the problem. Now, in situations of normality, when we start living again, I think there is no other way, if not fiscal discipline on the one hand and the search for private investment on the other”, he says.

He states that the increase in the participation of the private sector in long-term investments depends on factors such as the business environment and institutional security, macroeconomic stability and long-term funding, with a capital market capable of absorbing high investments and long-term maturation, as the banking sector has regulatory capital and liquidity constraints that limit its participation in such projects.

Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Diego Felix