Henrique Meirelles, former Minister of Finance and former Secretary of Finance of the State of São Paulo, is back in the private sector. About a week ago, he accepted an invitation from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to take a seat on the company’s global advisory board.
“I still need to study the subject, it’s a very new market, but I found the proposal interesting”, he told Sheet the former global president of BankBoston, an American bank purchased by Itaú in 2006. So far, Meirelles claims to have not made any investment in crypto assets.
Founded in 2017 by Chinese Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, Binance bills itself as “the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem, with a suite of products that includes the largest of all digital asset exchanges.” The company provides customer service in 40 languages, including Portuguese. Its venture capital arm, Binance Labs, manages assets of $7.5 billion.
Former president of the BC (Central Bank) in the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), he says that, for now, the PT has his vote. “Despite some of his mistaken statements”, says the former finance minister of Michel Temer (PMDB).
As mistaken, Meirelles cites Lula’s intention to end the spending ceiling. “The Brazilian tax system is very bad, without spending control, Brazil can break down and go into recession,” he said, noting that the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth forecast in 2023 is low, at 0.5%.
This year, he says, the country should grow above expectations due to the tax injection. “But that makes the BC situation very difficult,” he says, referring to interest rates.
“There is no doubt that there is a serious social problem and that it is necessary to extend Auxílio Brasil next year, but it is essential to have a cut in expenses to try to balance the accounts a little”, he said.
As a proposal, Meirelles defends an administrative reform in the government, with privatization of public companies, along the lines of the process he led when he was Secretary of Finance of João Doria (PSDB).
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