Government intends to stimulate national industry and export to other countries

The federal government announced, this Thursday (25), that it has been working on the elaboration of public policies to stimulate national production in strategic areas and that it intends to encourage exports to Asian, African and Latin countries. The initiatives are described in an article signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Vice Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo.

In the text, Lula and Alckmin classify the initiatives as a “Brazilian neo-industrialization” of sectors that already have know-how – knowledge – for a “new moment of globalization”. According to them, the export of raw materials is important, but it is necessary to develop the industrial sector so as not to be “vulnerable to international price cycles” (see full text).

“A knowledge-based economy depends on recovering our industrial sector, also benefiting our sovereignty in sectors such as health, communications, defense and energy. However, we are losing the race of productive sophistication”, they say, claiming that the complexity of the Brazilian economy fell from the 25th to the 50th position in the world in “decades”, in a “reverse path” to that of China.

According to the president and vice-president, even the most liberal countries in the world have been investing in national content, “whether to build production chains that are more resilient to shocks, such as the one that caused a shortage of inputs in the pandemic; whether to account for the imperative of climate change, the space race of our time”.

The development of the national industry, they say, will take place based on public consultations through the National Council for Industrial Development (CNDI), together with measures such as the Support Program for the Technological Development of the Semiconductor Industry (PADIs) and the program to confront at Brazil cost. A survey released last week points out that this index reached the mark of R$ 1.7 trillion, corresponding to 19.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Lula and Alckmin also write that the tax reform under discussion in Congress will “unlock, reduce bureaucracy and simplify processes that harm the industry”, to reduce cumulativeness and conflicts. This, they say, will stimulate private investment, improve the business environment and increase exports.

Export to Asia, Africa and AL

In the same article, Lula and Alckmin state that “commercial opportunities open up for a green power like our country”, with the development of cars or flex-fuel engines for markets able to use ethanol in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

“We need to revive trade within our continent and with the Atlantic Coast of Africa, regions where in the recent past we exported more industrialized products; and explore niches opened by the growth in Asia of countries like India, Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as in a China that today not only exports a lot, but stimulates a flourishing domestic market with ever-increasing purchasing power – a possible destination for our cosmetics and food”, claim.

The Brazilian energy matrix, according to the president and vice president, creates opportunities for foreign investment, mainly in “green” initiatives. “With almost 90% of our electric matrix clean and expansion of wind and solar energy, we must focus on attracting green investments”, they report.

Agribusiness initiatives

Also in the article, Lula and Alckmin announce the creation of the National Fertilizer Plan, further stimulating agribusiness and financing exports of agricultural machinery and “new technologies that are emerging in Brazil to serve the countryside”.

However, the relationship between agribusiness and the government has been complicated since the 2022 election campaign, in which statements made by Lula did not go down well in the sector.

Since then, the president and ministers have maintained an ambiguous discourse, with affection on one side and criticism on the other – as in recent episodes such as the Agrishow and the participation of members of the government and allies in an MST fair.