Pedro Malan and Edmar Bacha declare their vote for Lula, who advances among Tucano economists

Economists Edmar Bacha, one of the fathers of the Real Plan, and Pedro Malan, former Finance Minister of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, released a note, this Thursday (6), declaring that they will vote for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round. of the presidential election.

Economists Armínio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank, and Persio Arida, another economist who participated in the formulation of the Real, had already announced this option, but also signed the note.

The four affirm that the expectation is that the PT candidate will lead the economy responsibly.

In an interview with SheetBacha, highlighted that the joint note seeks to reinforce the idea of ​​a consensus among economists who worked in the administration of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and in the defense of the country’s stability, since the signatories contributed to the creation of the Real and the fight against inflation .

Bacha, who is a member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras, was president of IBGE, BNDES and founder of the Casa das Garças institute, a center for public policy debates in Rio de Janeiro.

“A joint note strengthens a position that we consider important at this moment and also reinforces our expectation that Lula will be committed to economic stability, especially due to the presence of Geraldo Alckmin in the campaign and the nod to Henrique Meirelles [ex-presidente do Banco Central na gestão de Lula]”, he stated.

The note also strengthens the alignment of economists from the PSDB to the PT campaign. André Lara Resende, who also worked in the creation of Real, had already opened the vote, opting for Lula.

Bacha also reinforced that his questions about the management of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) were already public. “I warned you that I would not vote for Bolsonaro, so it was a matter of time to reach this choice,” he said.

When announcing his vote for Lula, Fraga highlighted his concern with the direction of national politics.

“The most important thing for Brazil today is to improve policy, guaranteeing the most basic, democracy, transparency in decision-making in the economic sphere, to go deep into diagnoses and make proposals,” he said.

“We need to restore calm to the country, an environment that allows us to broaden horizons and take care of Brazil’s development.”

Arida also highlighted that his main concern was the realization that Bolsonaro is a risk to Brazil’s institutional stability.

But he also said that his decision was influenced by the fact that the Bolsonarista administration did not deliver what it promised in the economy, as well as causing damage to the environment, which deteriorated Brazil’s international image.

“In my opinion, there is no justification for Bolsonaro’s permanence in power,” he said.

“The performance in the economy was very bad. He didn’t deliver what he promised. He didn’t open the market, or tax reform, much less the privatizations he promised. The only privatization, that of Eletrobras, is the worst in history.”

In the case of the environment, Arida believes that the Bolsonarista management can jeopardize the future of Brazil.

“Brazil has an extraordinary opportunity when looking at this issue at an international level: attracting foreign investment to become an environmental power, a leader,” he said. “We won’t have that in the Bolsonaro government.”

Arida was president of BNDES and the Central Bank during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In 2018, he was coordinator of the economic program in the Alckmin campaign, and is his trusted economist.

Despite the support of heavyweight economists linked to the PSDB for the PT candidate, the party released the vote in the second round of these elections, and politicians from Toucan declared their support for President Jair Bolsonaro.