Speaking during a meeting with NGOs this Thursday (17th), president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) defended breaking the spending ceiling as a “social responsibility” in order to finance social programs. At COP27, the UN climate conference taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, he participated this morning in a meeting with Brazilian civil society.
“If I say that, will the stock market fall, will the dollar rise? Patience”, said Lula, adding that the fluctuation of indices does not happen “because of serious people, but because of speculators who are speculating every single day”.
“We have to meet the inflation target, yes. But we have to have a growth target. We have to have some commitment to growth, to job creation, if not, how are you going to make sure that wealth is distributed? to ensure that we are going to raise the minimum wage above inflation,” he spoke in a convention hall that was packed with NGO representatives.
Additional spaces for broadcasting the event had to be arranged early in the morning.
“When you put something called a spending cap, all that happens is you take money away from health, take money away from education, take money away from science and technology, take money away from culture. You try to dismantle everything that is part of the social. you don’t touch a penny of the financial system. You don’t touch a penny of that interest that bankers have to receive”, he also said.
Lula’s speech, despite taking place at the conference on climate change in Egypt, is aimed at the most important economic discussion taking place this week in Brazil. On Wednesday (16), the elected vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), after weeks of negotiation,
presented the draft of the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) of the Transition, in which there is a proposal to remove the Bolsa Família program from the spending cap permanently.
The measure is considered necessary to avoid a social blackout next year, since the Budget proposal sent in August by the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government only guarantees an average value of R$ 405.21 for beneficiaries, in addition to imposing cuts severe cuts in funds for housing and in the Popular Pharmacy.
During the presidential campaigns, both Lula and Bolsonaro promised higher amounts for beneficiaries.
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