Economy Minister Paulo Guedes repeated this Friday (26) in a lecture in Rio Grande do Sul the metaphors he has used to compare Brazil’s economic situation with that of the rest of the world.
“Brazil is coming back from the rehabilitation clinic when the funk dance is ending, [são] 3 am, everybody [está] drunk and the police arrived”, he said. “The world is in this situation after 20, 30 years of gains from globalization, now the reflux begins.”
According to him, while European countries and the United States face turmoil due to the disruption of supply chains during the pandemic and what he called the reflux of globalization, Brazil is ready to move in the opposite direction.
According to the economy minister, Brazil is “clean” and is growing 2.5% only because interest rates are still high.
Paulo Guedes participated in an event organized by Aclame (Association of the Middle Class), in Porto Alegre (RS).
For about an hour and a half, he defended the current government’s economic agenda – he said that he managed to pass reforms, such as the Social Security, and the Economic Freedom Act, and legal frameworks for the infrastructure sector – and tried to explain his position on reelection. .
“I’m still against reelection. Now, if there was one Lula, one Dilma and one Fernando Henrique, one Bolsonaro, it would be okay. But with two Dilmas, two Lulas and two Fernando Henriques, you need two Bolsonaros,” he said, referring to the dual terms of office. of previous presidents.
To the businessmen who attended the lecture, Guedes also defended recent measures that sought to reduce the IPI (Industrialized Products Tax). The decree published on Wednesday (24) was the government’s third attempt to cut the industry tax.
Previous measures were barred by a decision of the Federal Supreme Court, which responded to requests that considered the cut a risk to the functioning of the Manaus Free Trade Zone (AM).
In the most recent publication, what is produced in the Free Zone is shielded from the 35% cut, which affects around 4,000 products. “Everything that is done there [na Zona Franca] is protected”, said Guedes.
“It was a good deal [acordo, em inglês]. We are lowering a mass deindustrialization tax.” According to the minister, the Economy’s intention is to gradually zero the tax. The progression in the cut should also reach the Mercosur import tariff (which in July approved a 10% reduction).
“We are going to make a competitive integration of the Brazilian economy within the global economy, but within now of a reconfiguration of the productive chains.” According to the Minister of Economy, there has been a change in the way Brazil has been treated abroad.
Whenever “I got there”, he said, he was criticized (“I went with a shield and helmet, I was prepared to be beaten”) for driving the country’s environmental agenda (“you are burning forests”).
Now, said the Minister of Economy, the treatment has changed because, according to him, after the shock of the pandemic, it became clear to the world that “Brazil is energy security for Europe, and food security for the world.”
Guedes also returned this Friday to demand the return of loans by the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development). In June, he had already said that the bank had applied a “trap” to the government to secure the schedule of returns to the National Treasury.
“We still need to take a small step, we need to tear apart the BNDES. The BNDES owes us a ride,” he said. He praised the institution’s president, Gustavo Montezano, whom he called extraordinary.
“But there is a machine and the machine likes to receive some advantages.”
The disagreement between the portfolio and the bank has already motivated frustration in the amount returned by the bank in 2021. The government expected an advance transfer of R$ 100 billion, but the institution made a smaller payment, of R$ 63 billion.
Regarding 2021, as shown by the SheetBNDES paid, on average, R$ 108.1 thousand to its employees through its PLR (profit sharing) program.
“BNDES still owes us BRL 90 billion and the board did not want to sign it,” said Guedes, who attributes the hesitation to a concern on the part of BNDES with the Federal Audit Court.
The economy minister also criticized what he called a R$100,000 bonus for employees. “You can even pay the bonus, but you have to return the money.”
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
