Lula says that fiscal responsibility is important, but that it is necessary to invest to improve the country

The president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), said this Saturday (19) that fiscal responsibility is important, but that investment to improve the economy and well-being in the country is also important.

“We know that we have to be fiscally responsible. We cannot spend more than we earn. But we also know that we can spend to do something that is profitable, to make the country grow, improve,” he said at an event. in Lisbon.

The statement comes at a time when the petista is the target of criticism for defending breaking the spending ceiling to finance social programs, and questioning the market’s reactions to the economic discussion involving the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Transition.

On Wednesday (16), the vice president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), presented the draft of the text, which proposes to remove the Bolsa Família program from the spending ceiling permanently, as well as part of the investments.

In reaction, financial markets have plummeted in recent days. The Ibovespa index of the Brazilian Stock Exchange accumulated a drop of 3% in the week.

The fear is in relation to the expenses involved in the PEC, which will not set a maximum value for the extract invoice, but estimates indicate the need for R$ 175 billion for the social program next year. The proposal also includes authorization for part of extraordinary revenue to be outside the spending rule and to be redirected to investments, within a limit of R$ 23 billion in 2023.

After downplaying the reaction of part of the financial sector, Lula nodded to the market. On Friday (18), the petista repeated that he complied with the rules of fiscal responsibility when he was in government, between 2003 and 2010.

On the occasion, the president-elect commented on the letter published in the Sheet by economists Arminio Fraga, Edmar Bacha and Pedro Malan addressed to him. Entitled “Will the stock market fall? Will the dollar rise? Patience?”, the text questions Lula about his recent statements.

“I haven’t read the letter yet, but I was happy to hear about a letter from important people warning me about economic problems and giving suggestions. I know how to listen to advice and, if it makes sense, follow it”, he said.

Alongside the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, the president-elect also said he was upset when asked about his fiscal policy, repeating that he acted responsibly when he was president, and that he managed to lower inflation, unemployment and the percentage of country’s internal debt.

“No one has the authority to talk about fiscal policy with me, because during my entire period in government I was the only country in the G20 that had a primary surplus during the eight years of my mandate,” he said, adding that he will once again be responsible from the point of view tax, without having to meet everything the financial system wants.

This Saturday’s event in Lisbon was also attended by former São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, who is one of the main candidates to take over Lula’s Ministry of Finance.

“We are going to prioritize development and social justice,” said Haddad. “We have an internal challenge in Brazil: to do more and better than we could do on other occasions.”

Lula also stated that he wants to form a government with “more people from society, from other parties” and with those who have no party affiliation.

The president-elect said that, although his party defeated Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the October election, extreme right currents are still very active in Brazil.

“We defeated Bolsonaro… But Bolsonarism is still alive and we need to defeat it. We are going to defeat it without using the methods they used against us. We do not want persecution, violence. We want a country that lives in peace”, he said.