Lula says it’s no use just looking at GDP – 07/12/2023 – Market

President Lula (PT) said, this Wednesday (12), that it is no use looking only at the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), if there is no equitable distribution of growth.

The Chief Executive also said that constitutional funds are not for making a surplus, but for investing, and asked the Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet, for a general survey of funds.

“It’s no use for us to just look at the GDP, it grew 10%, 14%, 30%, if the result of that GDP is not distributed equally among the entire population. If you grow 1% and distribute 1%, it’s worth more than having 10% and not distributing any”, said the president, in his speech.

The statement was given upon arrival at the ceremony at the Planalto Palace for the delivery of the National Order of Scientific Merit and the resumption of the National Science and Technology Council (CCT).

Lula also said, when requesting the survey for Simone, that since his first government, in 2003, they talk about using resources from constitutional funds saved to create a surplus in the trade balance.

“The funds were not created by the Federal Senate to make a surplus, they were created to invest in areas. We are going to have to start reviewing, otherwise the National Congress will no longer need to create a fund”, he stated.

On June 1, the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) announced that the GDP increased by 1.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, from January to March of this year.

The growth of the Brazilian economy was above expectations in the first quarter of 2023, boosted by agriculture, which ended up masking the lower breath of consumption and the weakness of productive investments amid the scenario of high interest rates.

The result surprised analysts by being above the median of projections, which indicated an increase of 1.3%, according to the Bloomberg agency.

The growth in the first three months of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government also provoked a wave of upward revisions in the estimates for the accumulated GDP in 2023.

Now, projections point to an increase close to or above 2% until December – something that was under the radar until recently. In 2022, GDP grew by 2.9%.