Economy Minister Paulo Guedes made a gaffe this Tuesday (15) when he said that Brazil is ready for a “Second World War”, a conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945.
Moments later, he sought out reporters to explain himself and took the opportunity to also correct a statement made last week about iPhones in Brazil.
In an event at the Planalto Palace aimed at agribusiness, Guedes said that Brazil has a zero fiscal deficit and, therefore, “ready for another fight”.
“If the second world war comes, we are ready again. We will expand again, because we have zero deficit.”
After the ceremony, he explained himself to reporters, stating that he used the term figuratively.
“I’m not talking about the second world war. There was a war, which was this pandemic, a world health war. Now there’s a second one, Ukraine, Russia… This has increased the price of fuel, fertilizers, this affects us,” said the minister.
“I meant: if there is this oil war, this grain war, we will be prepared to react.”
He took the opportunity to say that he was wrong to say, last week, that there are more iPhones in Brazil than in Brazil.
The minister said he wanted to refer to the general number of mobile devices, but treated all handsets as the same model.
“I wanted to say the following: every Brazilian has two digital devices, two cell phones, they can even have two cell phones, and the iPhone came out by accident.”
The previous statement on iPhones was given last Friday (11), when the minister said that the pandemic was responsible for launching Brazil more quickly towards a technological future.
“Our president was already digital and we are the fourth largest digital market in the world. There are more iPhones in Brazil than the population. Brazilians have one, two iPhones, sometimes.”
On Apple’s website for Brazil, the cheapest model that can be bought new is the iPhone SE, from R$4,199. The most expensive is the iPhone 13 Pro Max, available to consumers from R$10,142.
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