The vice president said he believed the reductions in U.S. tariffs on Brazilian products would happen “step by step.”
BRASÍLIA – The Vice President and Minister of Industry, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), said that the reduction of the base interest rate, the Selic, should take place soon, but stressed that the Lula government (PT) must also make a greater budgetary effort. He gave an interview to the journalist Reinaldo Azevedo, in the show ReConversabroadcast on YouTube.
“I am confident on the issue of interest rates, because the industry is the most affected by the very high interest rates. (…) I believe that the interest rate will start to fall, if not now, at the next meeting,” he said, referring to the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Central Bank, which takes place this week.
He explained that the dollar fell and that the climate and this year’s “super harvest” favored the fall in food prices. “Interest rates are falling, the economy is growing faster,” he added.
He then highlighted the data on unemployment and inflation in the country. “We are at an important moment, because when inflation is low, unemployment is high; when unemployment is low, inflation is high. We currently have an unemployment rate of 5.4%, the lowest in history, and with inflation falling from 4.4%, that is rare.”
He reflected: “Of course we shouldn’t be in a great place, no. We need to make a greater effort fiscally, on the spending issue, but I would say the scenario is a positive one.”
Finally, he declared that “many people” who criticize the budgetary issue of the current government do not see the deficits achieved by the previous government, of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). “The government of our Paulo Guedes, the ‘Chicago boy’, has managed to create a deficit of 9.7%,” he criticized. “We need to start generating a surplus now, to stop the debt growing, and then it will start to go down.”
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Alckmin said he believed the U.S. tariff reductions on Brazilian products would happen “step by step.” He emphasized that the total number of goods still affected by customs duties fell from 36% to 22%.
“These problems are not up to us. If it was up to us, this would be solved 100%. I think it will be done step by step,” he said. “They (the Americans) are removing (customs duties) in stages. I would say the next steps will be positive,” he added.
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