President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Tuesday (20) that he will recreate the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Services if he is re-elected in October, contrary to the downsizing of portfolios defended by him in 2018, and added that the head of the area will be indicated by entrepreneurs.
Bolsonaro said during a seminar with entrepreneurs who are part of Abras (Brazilian Association of Supermarkets) that the recreation of the folder is already “scheduled”. The president spoke in a virtual way, as he is traveling to New York (USA) to participate in the UN General Assembly.
According to Bolsonaro, the recreation of the portfolio would enable a more efficient management of matters relating to these sectors, which are currently handled by the Ministry of Economy, under the command of Paulo Guedes.
At the beginning of Bolsonaro’s term, four ministries were brought together under the umbrella of the Economy. In addition to the Industry area, the Finance, Planning and Work and Welfare portfolios were transferred to the command of Guedes (today, the latter is already dismembered).
The president stated that Guedes has no objection to the measure, but the minister has always been resistant to the dismemberment of his portfolio — which, in practice, means a loss of power over economic policy.
The minister considers it an extraordinary gain and an important advantage for the portfolios to remain together, mainly because this allows for the editing of coherent measures between different areas. In addition, it avoids fights between more than one minister on the same issue — as there have been in different cases throughout history.
Behind the scenes, interlocutors of Guedes told the Sheet last month (after Bolsonaro had already signaled a dismemberment of the portfolio) that the modification is not a taboo and that it could even be discussed if the name of the colleague helps in the measures defended by the minister – such as the defense of tax and administrative reforms.
But, on the other hand, if politics and the allotment of positions prevail to the detriment of measures considered right, the minister would even lose the motivation to remain in government.
This Tuesday, Bolsonaro said that setting up a ministry is not as expensive as thought. In 2018, he had promised a downsizing of the Esplanade in the name of saving resources.
“The expense is almost negligible. Now, the benefits of this good administration are very welcome,” Bolsonaro said. “The creation of this ministry is what is scheduled, with a re-election, and the nomination has to come from you”, he added.
Bolsonaro was also asked about expanding the payroll tax exemption, in order to benefit more sectors. He indicated that he can include more sectors in the payroll exemption – which is in effect until 2023, benefiting 17 sectors.
The payroll exemption allows companies in the benefited sectors to pay rates from 1% to 4.5% on gross revenue, instead of 20% on the payroll.
“What do I see in this issue? There is the view of the economy, of Paulo Guedes and mine: we are breaking records of collection in Brazil. We don’t need to charge again, insert 20% on the payroll. from 1% to 4.5%, 17 sectors, and it can, in my opinion, aggregate some sectors”, said the president.
“I believe that Paulo Guedes will accept the inclusion of more categories in this exemption agenda, even because we are breaking a collection record”, he said.
Bolsonaro then cited the example of the reduction of the IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products). He said that the population, when saving on the purchase of an appliance, uses these resources for new purchases.
At another point, Bolsonaro criticized the swelling of the public sector. He stated that he himself managed to promote an administrative reform by not carrying out public tenders. He said that he only opened processes for new vacancies when it was extremely necessary, citing the competitions for the Federal Highway Police.
Bolsonaro’s statements to the business community come a day after Henrique Meirelles, former president of the Central Bank, declared support for the campaign for the election of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The move was interpreted as a possible entry of Meirelles in an eventual PT government and had repercussions on the financial market, with the real appreciating against the dollar.
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