Faria Lima receives Flávio Bolsonaro with suspicion and notes a lack of clarity on the senator’s economic program

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The first order of business was a lunch at the Banco UBS headquarters, attended by Flávio Rocha, owner of the Riachuelo clothing company, and Richard Gerdau, of the steel producer that bears the family name, among other businessmen, as well as the former president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Gustavo Montezano.

Flávio would have signaled that his intention, if elected, was to “continue” what was done by Guedes and to change the directions adopted by the current government, which has Fernando Haddad (PT) as Minister of Finance. He also affirmed that he would launch an electoral campaign with a “high floor”, that is to say with a safe margin of votes to go to the second round against President Lula.

Most economists and managers believe that the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), would have more potential to be elected to the Planalto Palace. The rejection of Flávio’s name was demonstrated by the behavior of the Stock Exchange and the dollar on the day of the announcement (5), when the Ibovespa fell by 8 thousand points (a drop of 4.35%) and the dollar ended the session at R$5.44, the highest level of the year.

During the meeting at UBS, the main doubt was whether the candidacy would survive. To those present, Flávio assured that he would stay in the race and that he would have an advantage over Tarcísio because he bore the name Bolsonaro, which would guarantee the support of his father’s electorate, a level of around 20% of voting intentions. He also claimed that he had the potential to win over new voters, because he was the least radical of the clan.

Indicating that he would follow Guedes’ economic policy, Flávio did not specify what his future appointment to the ministry would be. The former minister was, however, mentioned by the senator as one of the names that could help him in his campaign, as was Montezano, who was managing partner of the BTG Pactual bank in São Paulo, where he was responsible for the corporate credit division.

According to a businessman, Flávio has adopted a moderate tone, but he still needs to move forward in structuring a government program to convince. For the financial market, the most relevant factors in choosing a right-wing candidate are commitment to fiscal stability, institutional predictability, and continuity of reforms and privatizations.

Another guest felt that the lunch had more of a media character, to try to reverse the market’s aversion to the senator’s candidacy, rather than to fight for the support of the financial sector. Disseminating a photo of the lunch, for example, would reinforce the marketing nature of the meeting, specifies the source. This official also believes that Guedes’ adherence to a possible government program does not guarantee that “Faria Lima will take Flávio’s hand.” According to him, simply saying that you are in favor of balanced budgets, legal certainty and reducing bureaucracy does not guarantee support. We must have a coherent program that seeks these points, he reinforces.

The organizer of Flávio’s meetings with Faria Lima is Filipe Sabará, former Secretary of Social Development in João Doria’s government and one of the coordinators of Pablo Marçal’s campaign for mayor of São Paulo last year.

— After the announcement of the candidacy, the market wanted to understand the paths that Flávio would offer. I spoke to him to discuss it and explain it to this group, which was more inclined to Tarcísio — says Sabará.

There are plans to continue the pilgrimage to Faria Lima next week and give more interviews to fund podcasts, as happened on Thursday.

— I believe in the free market and we must continue on this path of reducing bureaucracy, because those who move the economy are the private sector entrepreneurs and not the government — said Flávio about the show.

The position of dialogue and the search for support in the market distance candidate Bolsonaro from the “anti-establishment” discourse usually expressed by the brothers Eduardo, federal deputy in the United States, and Carlos, municipal councilor of Rio. The same ambiguity occurs with the Centrão parties, placed as rivals by this wing of the family, while Flávio organizes meetings and hears internal criticism of the way the process was carried out.