After 100 days of government, Brazil’s new president Lula da Silva attacks Bolsonaro and says that his predecessor tried to spread fascism in the country.
At the ceremony for 100 days of his third term in Brasilia, President Lula from the Labour party (PT) attacked his predecessor's management style of the country by criticizing the central bank’s 13.75% interest rate and promised to present new programs in the coming months, including a new tax reform proposal. To mark the date, Labour incorporated the slogan “Brazil has returned” of former president Michel Temer.
Without mentioning the name of the former president Jair Bolsonaro from the Liberal party (PL), Lula said that the government that preceded him spent Union resources in an unprecedented way in last year's election campaign "with a view to perpetuating fascism in the country".
Between you and me, I tend to agree that the central bank rate is absurd, as people need loans, often to support real immediate household issues in that high interest sucks the blood out of ordinary folk trying to survive. As one of the highest rates in the world it shows bad management.
According to economists it is governed by the monetary policies of Brazil, so if that is the case then how come it dropped to 2% during the pandemic to boost sales in the market. If it can be that low then why is it so high today. Compared to England’s 4.25% which according to the Bank of England is very high, how can Brazil increase it to more than three times that of the UK?
The president highlighted the Presidency's role in the institutional reaction to the January 8 coup attempt. Lula said that what happened “was not just any gesture”, as it was “an attempted coup made with the greatest shamelessness, made by a group of reactionaries, fascists, and the extreme right who did not want to leave power” on behalf of Bolsonaro and his allies.
In a cafe with journalists last week, Lula said that the Minister of the Social Communication Secretariat (Secom), Paulo Pimenta (PT), prohibited him to speak about Bolsonaro and Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR), called by him “the thing and the thing”. In the attacks made on Bolsonaro, the president also compared the level of investments made in the first three of his term with the contributions made by his predecessor in the same period.
In the session criticizing his opponent, Lula resumed his complaints about the interest rate practiced by the Central Bank, without making direct reference to the president of the BC, Roberto Campos Neto. "I still think that 13.75% is too high for interest, they are playing with the country and businessmen".
The president still used part of the ceremony to praise the work of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad (PT). He said that he even considered responding to an article criticizing the fiscal anchor proposal presented last week by Haddad. According to Lula, “the fiscal framework offers realistic and safe solutions for balancing public accounts”.
“We present the new fiscal framework, which brings realistic and safe solutions for the balance of public accounts. Which puts an end to the irrational constraints – and systematically disregarded – of the bankrupt spending ceiling. That guarantees the return of the poor to the budget. And that makes it possible to apply resources to the country's economic development,” he said.
Still on the economic theme, Lula described the cut back of what the new PAC should be, which until now is called by the government a “strategic investment program in infrastructure”. According to the president, the initiative led by Rui Costa will contribute public resources in transport, social infrastructure, digital inclusion and connectivity, urban infrastructure; water for all and energy transition.
According to the head of the Federal Executive, it is “better to give up” if the scenario in the government is one of whining in relation to socioeconomic indicators.
“Nobody believes in a government that wakes up every day and says, Oh, GDP is not going to grow, oh because the economy is not very good, oh because the IMF said such a thing, oh because the World Bank said such a thing, oh why the financial market said such a thing'.” Then he said, “Look, if we are going to govern thinking about it, it is better to give up”, said the president.
Have a great day!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Source: Estadão
Vocabulary builder:
Whining (adj) = moaning