Lula demands more investments from ministers and says they should not create new projects

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) reinforced this Friday (3) the demand for his ministers to invest the resources allocated to the ministries in infrastructure works, and not to create new projects beyond those that have already been proposed throughout this year. The direct message was given during a meeting with the departments focused on infrastructure and the economy at Palácio do Planalto.

Among the recipients of the message was Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, who became a target last week after Lula said that the government may not fulfill its promise to eliminate the deficit in public accounts in 2024. Last Monday (30), Haddad he had to go public and state that Lula had not “discommitted” to the goal.

“For those in the Treasury, good money is money in the Treasury, but for those in the Presidency, good money is money transformed into works. It’s money transformed into roads, into schools, into primary, secondary, third grade schools, healthcare”, Lula demanded from Haddad.

Lula’s demand from Haddad comes at a time when the political wing of the government is defending a deficit in public accounts of up to 0.5% of GDP next year, to avoid spending cuts in a year of municipal elections. The objective is to increase investments in city halls mainly belonging to allies, with a view to the 2026 presidential succession in which he intends to contest re-election – as the PT has recently made clear.

Lula asked ministers to be “the best spenders of money on works of interest to the Brazilian people”, especially the projects that are part of the new version of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), launched in August and which foresees investments of up to R $1.7 trillion.

He reinforced the message given in other ministerial meetings that ministers should not create new projects beyond those that have already been proposed so far, that there is a sufficient quantity until the end of the term.

“No one needs to invent anything new in this country. Everything is determined, we will carry out these works. We have until 2026 to carry out part of these works”, highlighted the president.

Lula also demanded from the ministers that all the failures that were noticed in this first year of government should not be repeated in 2024. The demand is similar to the one he made in the live “Conversa com o Presidente” this week, in which he highlighted that he will hold two more meetings with ministers until the end of the year, one with those from the social and services areas and the other general for a review of the year.

Among the ministers who participated in this meeting were also Renan Filho (Transport), Silvio Costa (Ports and Airports), Alexandre Silveira (Mines and Energy), Juscelino Filho (Communications), Waldez Góes (Integration and Regional Development), Jader Filho ( Cities) and Paulo Pimenta (Communication Secretariat of the Presidency), in addition to vice-president Geraldo Alckmin.