Guedes says he will make reforms even in an election year

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes stated that the ministry will carry out structural reforms next year, despite being an election year, in which president Jair Bolsonaro (no party) should seek reelection. The statement was given after a meeting with businessmen this Friday (10), in São Paulo.

“There is a political conviction that an election year does not reform, nothing is done, the game is stopped. And the message I received from the business class was to continue with these reforms, because they are important, they help Brazil to grow and bring votes,” Guedes said.

According to the minister, the meeting with business representatives was marked by an emphasis on the need for administrative reform. “It was the most requested,” he said. “[O encontro] was a vote of confidence in the Ministry of Economy.”

The reaffirmation of the minister’s commitment to reforms in the election year contrasts with a statement by President Jair Bolsonaro given at the end of October, when the head of the Executive said in an interview on TV that tax and administrative reforms will not advance in 2022 if they are not approved in this year.

This Friday, Guedes had lunch in the upscale neighborhood of Morumbi with a group of businessmen that included Abílio Diniz, André Esteves (BTG), Cândido Pinheiro (Hapvida), Eugênio Mattar (Localiza), Flavio Rocha (Riachuelo), Rubens Menin (MRV) and Jose Olympio (Credit Suisse). The meeting took place at the home of businessman João Carlos Camargo, founder of the Esfera group, an organization that brings together businessmen.

“Everyone [empresários presentes] recognized the great work that the minister has been doing in Brazil. It was highly praised. And they recognized that the minister needs to help with some reforms this year and next year,” Camargo said after the event.

Guedes also attributed the high level of inflation in the country to a “worldwide” problem caused by the pandemic and called the impeachment request filed by more than 200 civil entities in the Chamber against him over his role in the pandemic as “nonsensical”.

“I’ve been fighting the pandemic from the beginning. I created emergency aid that helped 68 million. So I think it’s totally pointless. But it’s a natural for democracy. People throw a rock at you while you’re saving their life.”

The entities that made the request, such as the Black Coalition for Rights, accuse the minister of having committed a crime of responsibility in the pandemic, by adopting measures such as the suspension of emergency aid in October 2020 and by not providing for expenditure against the pandemic in the Budget of 2021. The approval of emergency aid in 2020 is credited to Congress, since that was where the benefit came from, in amendment to a bill already underway in the Chamber.