Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is under increasing pressure to reveal his economic plans if he wins the election, after adding the public support from leading liberal economists ahead of the second round.
Favored to win the elections on October 30, Lula has not yet clarified some of the axes that will mark his economic policy if he can beat President Jair Bolsonaro at the polls, who came out much stronger than expected in the first round.
The main unknown about Lula is who he will designate as Minister of Economy in a possible government. Or at least, what your profile will be.
“(Disclosure) the profile of the next Minister of Finance (Economy), I think it is a good sign to reassure the Brazilian economy,” he said in an interview with the newspaper. Folha of San Paolo Senator Simone Tebet (center-right), third in the elections, who recently declared her support for Lula.
Along with Tebet, Lula argued in a press conference on Friday that the elections must first be won, “to then discuss the composition of the government.”
So far the former trade unionist he avoided showing all his cards and takes refuge in the memory of the good times he lived in his eight years of government (2003-2010) to justify his economic and fiscal responsibility.
In 2002, the former trade unionist calmed the distrust of the markets and the business community with the publication of a document entitled “Letter to the Brazilian people”, in which he undertakes to honor the country’s financial commitments and maintain fiscal discipline from the country.
turn to the center
For now, one of the few clues that Lula has given is that the economy will not only be controlled by the PT, but by some of its allies. require clearer signals which will take another step towards the center.
“(Lula) will have to abandon the icons of petism that have recently accompanied him,” said banker Ricardo Lacerda, in an interview with the newspaper. O State of Sao Paulo.
For the time being, Lula has embraced old adversaries, such as conservative Geraldo Alckmin, his candidate for vice president, and Senator Tebet, and it has received the explicit support of important names in the marketlike the former banker Henrique Meirelles, Minister of Economy in Michel Temer’s government and one of the architects of the “spending ceiling”.
The progressive leader has also received throughout this week the support of the “fathers” of the so-called “Royal Plan”, which has brought inflation under control in Brazil through the creation of a new national currency, the real, in force until today.
“Our expectation is responsible management of the economy,” economists Pedro Malan, Armínio Fraga, Edmar Bacha and Persio Arida said in a joint statement.
So far Lula has been in favor of a development policy, based on the promotion of public works, and she has shown it its total opposition to the “spending ceiling”, passed through a constitutional amendment.
“We will govern with three words: credibility, stability, predictability,” he added on Friday.
Minister Paulo Guedes, the letter from Jair Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro stepped forward and in a post on his social media said that although Lula has the support of the creators of the Real Plan, he has Paulo Guedes, a liberal minister of the Chicago School and head of the Ministry of Economy since his first day in office.
Guedes has managed to attract the market and a large part of the business world, despite his administration not being as liberal as promised and despite the fact that the government has not respected the “spending ceiling”, which limits the increase in public spending to the rate of inflation of the previous year.
For this reason, the Executive has conducted a series of maneuvers with the support of Congress to increase subsidies to the poorest and to truck drivers on the eve of the elections.
This week, he also made use of the public machines once again announced that the public bank Caixa Económica will forgive the debt of many of their customers.
“But the outlook for 2023 is of near zero growth and still high inflation. With these spending it can be even worse. It is not a way to regain confidence,” questioned Meirelles, whose name was cited as a possible Minister of Economy on Friday. by Lula.
Brazil will close the year with growth of around 2.7% per year, even if the market estimates a strong brake for 2023.
Source: EFE
CB
Source: Clarin
