Renowned Economists Back Lula Against Bolsonaro , Defends Democracy
Renowned economists who participated in the creation of the Real Plan than recovered Brazil in 1994 , has declared their votes for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ( Lula ) for President.
Pedro Malan, Armínio Fraga, Persio Arida and Edmar Bacha released a note in favor of the PT candidate in the second round of the presidential election
Economists Pedro Malan, Armínio Fraga, Edmar Bacha and Persio Arida, responsible for the successful implementation of the Real Plan , the monetary pegging that recovered Brazil , released a joint vote for the PT candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running in the second round against the president and candidate for re-election, Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
“Our expectation is for the responsible conduct of the economy,” they said in the note.
The document does not provide further details on the reasoning behind the decision to vote , they insist that Brazil will only work with a government who understands the language of democracy.
Malan , an economist , was the finance minister during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) government, as well as president of the Central Bank (BC) during the Itamar Franco government. Fraga was president of the BC in FHC’s second term.
Edmar Bacha participated in the implementation of the Plano Real, the monetary plan that elevated the nation’s economy in 1994 .
Arida was president of the Central Bank and BNDES during the FHC administration. Arida had already declared, on Wednesday (5), the vote for Lula:
“ I’m going to vote for Lula not only because of the Bolsonaro government’s mistakes, but because I’m worried about Brazilian democracy. I don’t want democracy to die and what we have today is a civilizational setback,” said the economist.
He also said that the poor performance of the Bolsonaro government would be even worse in an eventual second term.
According to the economist , “ due to a more conservative Congress, which can support less republican agendas , the approval of Bolsonaro’s project will be difficult, and such will destroy the economy. Historically, second terms are always bad , so it is unacceptable for the government to continue for another four years with this president ,” he said. — Bolsonaro re-elected, would be a threat to democracy, the environment and human rights.
Arida said he will not participate effectively in the campaign, but that he is open to talks.
In 2018, he coordinated the economic plan of the presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), who is now Lula’s deputy. Arida and Bacha collaborated with the economic area in the campaign of the defeated Presidential Candidate, Simone Tebet, who on Wednesday also pledged her support for Lula in this second round of the presidential race.
“The PT has already made good and bad policies over the years and I am waiting for good policies to come “ he said.
In addition, said Arida, government programs are not always enforced. Bolsonaro, for example, promised to respect the spending ceiling, but broke it in three of the four years of government.
“Judging by the trajectory of not respecting the ceiling of spendings, it’s going to break every year,” Arida said “ The fiscal aspect, however, is not the country’s main problem” He concluded
“Brazil needs administrative and tax reforms, trade liberalization and a change in the way the public machinery works,” he advised
In his view , the only liberal measure of the current government, the independence of the Central Bank, happened because of a “Bolsonaro’s nap”.
“If he had noticed, he would have barred and (the monetary authority) would suffer intervention like Petrobras “ he evaluated.
The Presidential election runoff in Brazil will be on the 30th of October , 2022 . It will elect the next leader to govern Brazil for the next 4 years .
