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Brazil: Economic Policy to Be Kept Despite the Pain |
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Written by Brazzil Magazine
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Thursday, 09 September 2004 |
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Brazil's presidential Chief of Staff (ministro chefe da Casa Civil), José Dirceu, in remarks at the Industrial Federation of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan), declared that Brazil should come in with GDP growth of more than the 4% forecast for this year and strong growth should continue in the near future.
"Today Brazil is going through a special phase of economic growth which should become sustainable. However, we need to maintain the present economic policy in spite of the burden that policy places on the people, especially the most needy. The country is running a high rate of unemployment, which tends to rise to around 10 million," declared Dirceu.
The Minister assured his listeners that the government will maintain its trade surplus targets and provide the export sector with promised support. He also said the administration would keep public debt under control.
Dirceu added that state-run banks, such as the BNDES (Development), Caixa (Mortgage and Savings) and Banco do Nordeste (Northeast), were being revamped to respond to the need to provide support for sustainable development.
Dirceu also announced that US$2.4 billion (7 billion reais) would be earmarked annually for basic sanitation projects.
Finally, Dirceu emphasized the need to create jobs, saying that the sacrifice of the last few years would be compensated for. He concluded by saying that the country has to be determined to grow over the next decade or two in a continuous, secure manner.
Agência Brasil
Reporter: Nielmar Oliveira
Translator: Allen Bennett
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