‘Economy numbers are fantastic’ in Brazil, says Bolsonaro in an interview with JN

“The economic numbers are fantastic, taking into account the rest of the world. If it were only Brazil with this problem, I would be responsible”, said Jair Bolsonaro (PL), in an interview with Jornal Nacional, on TV Globo, on Monday night (22).

The statement was in response to a question about indicators such as the inflation rate, which more than doubled during Bolsonaro’s administration, the interest rate, which doubled, and the dollar exchange rate, which rose from R$3.90 to more than R$3.90. BRL 5.

According to Bolsonaro, promises made in 2018 to keep inflation, interest rates and the dollar at low levels were frustrated by the pandemic, by “a huge drought” recorded in 2021 and by the “conflict between Ukraine and Russia”.

“If you take today’s data, you see Brazil as, perhaps, the only country in the world with deflation, a country that will have lower inflation than England and the United States. You also see that the unemployment rate has fallen in Brazil”, he declared. , to justify the “fantastic numbers”.

(The July IPCA was indeed negative, at -0.68%, but four other countries saw inflation decelerate: Armenia, Spain, Greece and Luxembourg. Despite the drop in July, the country has the fourth highest inflation in 12 months. among the biggest economies.)

According to him, to try to fulfill the promises in a second term, the path will be “to continue in the policy that we have been doing since 2019”. Bolsonaro called “the great vaccine” for the economy “reforms such as the Social Security, the Economic Freedom Law, the modernization of NRs, of regulatory norms”.

Bolsonaro also said in his final presentation that the price of gasoline had “fallen alarmingly” and made a nod to agribusiness saying he had “pacified the MST”.

Issues such as the balance of public accounts to avoid the growth of debt in relation to GDP or about the increase in hunger in the country were not addressed in the interview.

Bolsonaro was the first to be interviewed by Jornal Nacional, among the best-placed candidates for the Presidency of the Republic.

During the week, candidates Ciro Gomes, from the PDT (23, Tuesday), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from the PT (25, Thursday) and Simone Tebet, from the PMDB (26, Friday), will also be received.

The Chief Executive had demanded that the interview be held at Palácio da Alvorada, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) even stated on social media that the president’s participation was confirmed and that it would take place at the president’s official residence.

Afterwards, however, Globo denied that it would have accepted the demand.

Bolsonaro gave in and was questioned by William Bonner and Renata Vasconcellos at Globo’s studios in Rio de Janeiro, for about 40 minutes.

The argument for the president to be interviewed at Palácio da Alvorada was that former presidents Lula (PT) and Dilma Rousseff (PT) had the same deference when they ran for reelection.

Globo, however, stated that shortly after the 2014 elections it defined that all interviews in election years would be done in its studios.

“The measure sought to demonstrate that all candidates are treated on an equal footing,” the broadcaster said, adding that the schedule for all interviews was informed to the parties in April this year.