Lula wants to give money for the internet for the poor and for the plane for the rich – 01/27/2024 – Vinicius Torres Freire

An interesting plan of Lula 3’s reindustrialization policy is the increase in the supply of internet connections.

As should be obvious, good internet at a good price can improve education, business, technical assistance, commercial promotion, research and other necessities of life. Rural areas, the poor and those who live far away generally have less access to good services.

The interesting projects of Lula 3’s plan, Nova Indústria Brasil, also give food for thought about the rumors of aid for large companies, by Lula 3.

Ultimately, with good will, infrastructure expansion programs, such as the internet, could come to resemble good initiatives by Lula 1 and 2.

There was Luz para Todos, for people savagely left without electricity. Or the Caminho da Escola, using buses financed by the government, to take children to classes where the distances are great and there is no money.

Yes, an “internet for all” can also help the mechanization and digitalization of rural companies or businesses in general, whether larger or smaller, which is also good.

Without non-refundable public money, there will be no investment in infrastructure in a poor and/or inhospitable place. There will be no socioeconomic development and reduction of inequality without decent broadband, energy, sanitation or transport.

It is still difficult to understand how much money will go to each initiative in the government’s plan. But the BNDES said, for example, that there will be R$4 billion for “expansion of broadband and connectivity”, at cheap interest rates, with resources from the Telecommunications Services Universalization Fund.

So. The Ministry of Ports and Airports announced that the government should help airlines with a fund of R$4 billion to R$6 billion. The BNDES warned that there will be money, in quantity and for undetermined reasons, also for a new infallible incentive plan for the shipping industry.

It is said that the airlines would be almost bankrupt also because they did not receive enough help during the pandemic, as so many companies actually did.

Suppose that is the case. Will there be a statement of reasons for the help? Will companies open their accounts (in addition to balance sheets, which are increasingly less reliable)? What are the counterparts?

The idea of ​​a fund of “up to R$6 billion” for airlines means nothing. In the government’s vague announcements, there would be money from BNDES for working capital, loans guaranteed by the National Civil Aviation Fund (which depends on the law). There would be renegotiation of debts with the State and a National Civil Aviation Financing Fund.

They would also find a way to lower the price of aviation fuel, which depends on taking money from Petrobras or reducing taxes or, more unlikely, a measure that reduces the prices of fuel distributors.

It therefore appears that there may be much more than R$6 billion for airlines. For shipyards, the business is even more obscure.

As usual, there is no economic project, at least public, to justify this, which is the granting of a public subsidy to a private business. “Strategic motive” in general is the government’s justification, an abstraction that excuses any arbitrary, whim or developmental delusion.

There is even less sign that there will be an autonomous institution designed to monitor and evaluate projects and programs, an agency that is accountable and that puts inefficiencies and possible errors on the fan. The TCU can even help, but it is not useful for that.

Without such requirements, socioeconomic reason and evaluation institution, development policies will always be under suspicion, to be mild and have goodwill.

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