I never promised that Brazil would keep growing in ‘V’, says Paulo Guedes

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said in an interview on the Band’s “Canal Livre” program last Sunday (12) that he had promised a “V”-shaped recovery, but never guaranteed the country’s continued growth.

“I never said that Brazil would continue in a ‘V’. We put Brazil on its feet, that’s a ‘V’. Let’s go into the future,” said the minister, reaffirming that the Brazilian economy underwent a rapid recovery after the sharp drop during the pandemic.

In the third quarter, the economy retreated 0.1%, compared to the three immediately previous months, according to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) data released by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). The result reinforces the scenario of economic stagnation.

Regarding the rise in inflation and the rise in interest rates, Guedes also stated that central banks around the world are “sleeping at the wheel”, while the Brazilian BC “was up first”.

He also said that inflation is the BC’s responsibility and that the institution’s president, Roberto Campos Neto, has a lot of work ahead of him.

The minister also said that the government intends to continue advancing the concession program and that Brazil will end the government “possibly without a public airport.”

On the talk show, Guedes also told journalists that he defends the privatization of Petrobras, for a strong market economy and for competition.

“Petrobras must be privatized. It has been a vertical monopoly for decades. I want to see a strong market economy. I want to see competition in the distribution, extraction and generation of oil.”

The minister also said that sometimes state-owned companies are being exploited and sometimes they exploit the people. “If there is an energy problem in Brazil today, it is because we had a monopoly called Eletrobras.”

Although a good part of the analysts point to the breaking of the spending ceiling and criticize the PEC dos Precatório, the minister said that there was no fiscal lack of control on the part of the government. “As inflation rose, expenses rose. The ceiling, in real terms, is being respected.”

Guedes also stated that, despite not making forecasts for next year, he believes in the resilience of the Brazilian economy.

“I don’t want to be a seller of illusions, I’m not saying it will be easy, but just putting another side to this defeatism, this perception that everything is wrong in Brazil. We are in the middle of the war, there was general impoverishment, but we are facing.”