In Portugal, Lula criticizes the sale of Eletrobras and calls for a drop in interest rates

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized, this Monday morning (24), the privatization of Brazilian companies in the governments of former presidents Michel Temer (MDB) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL), in particular Eletrobras, and returned to demanding the drop in the interest rate currently at 13.75%, reinforcing the clash that has been going on since the beginning of the year with the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto.

The statements were given after a speech by the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, during the participation in the Portugal-Brazil Business Forum, held in the city of Matosinhos, where 200 businessmen from Brazil and from the country meet to carry out bilateral business.

Lula’s statement was given in the midst of a speech in which he spoke about the deals closed by the Portuguese government with Embraer, such as the development of the KC-390 military cargo plane and the A-29N Super Tucano aircraft in the standard that meets operational requirements. of NATO, the western military alliance. The president will make a demonstration trip on the cargo plane, at the end of the morning, between the city of Porto and Lisbon.

Lula stated that his government will not sell public companies and that, in the last six years, “a lot of public assets have been sold not to build other assets or the cost of another asset, but simply to pay interest on the public debt, and the quality of service does not improved”.

“We privatized our biggest electricity company, which was Eletrobras, for US$36 billion, if I remember correctly. The first thing the board did was increase the board’s salary from R$60,000 per month to R$360,000 per month. And now I have to appoint a director for this company to work once a month who earns BRL 200,000”, he said in an impromptu speech.

The speech was followed by statements about what would have been Brazil’s isolation from the world to do business and that it needs to travel to reestablish relations. He also declared the importance of partnerships for renewable fuels and joint production with Portugal to supply the European market.

Criticism of the interest rate at 13.75%

In a new episode of the government’s clash with the Central Bank, Lula again criticized the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, for maintaining the SELIC basic interest rate at 13.75% per year.

Without mentioning him by name, Lula said that Brazil “has a problem that Portugal, I don’t know if it has, is that our interest rate is very high. In Brazil, the SELIC rate, which is the reference rate, is 13.75%”.

“No one borrows money at 13.75%, there is no cheaper money. And the truth is that a capitalist country needs money, and this money has to circulate not just in the hands of a few, but in the hands of all”, he shot.

Last Thursday (20), Campos Neto was also charged by the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), during a participation in the Forum Lide Conference, held in London. The president of the Central Bank countered the speech, at the same event, saying that “the timing technical is different from timing policy, and that is why autonomy is important”.

Afterwards, Lula also said that the Brazilian industry – mainly suppliers of parts and equipment to Petrobras – reduced national production and opened up space for the import of “freighters” to the oil company “which we know how to do, which 65% of platform components and probes would be national”, “almost 65 thousand companies [de pequenos fornecedores]”. However, he did not justify what the reason would have been.

Lula also mentioned the statement he made in an interview with RTP, at the end of the week, in which he recognized that he does not have a majority in Congress. “I said that my base is 513 deputies and 81 senators, all of them. Let’s wait for the projects to enter the National Congress, the kind of conversation we are going to have, and let’s see what our base is, “she added.