PT deputy rebuts Haddad and says zero deficit target is “political stupidity”

Federal deputy Lindbergh Farias (PT-RJ) stated this Wednesday (2) that maintaining the zero deficit target in the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) was “political stupidity”. The statement was made to a column in the Estadão.

“It was politically stupid not to have changed the zero deficit target in December, in the LDO vote. Everyone knows that this goal is not feasible”, said the PT member.

According to Lindbergh, the government has contracted a crisis for March, when it will present the bimonthly revenue and expenditure assessment report. “Now, at the end of March there will be spending contingencies and major cuts in the Budget. And, to change this goal, in April, the political cost will be enormous. We pushed with our belly and contracted an unprecedented crisis”, declared the PT member.

The issue of the zero deficit target divided PT members and even members of the federal government. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) even defended before the LDO vote in Congress that the fiscal target would not need to be zero, but with a gap between 0.25% and 0.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ). However, minister Fernando Haddad managed to convince Lula not to back down in settling the accounts.

Lindbergh reinforced that “the PT has concerns” with Haddad’s stance and the risk of budget constraints. “We have nothing against Haddad nor have we said that everything is wrong, but there are concerns, there are. And they are legitimate,” Lindbergh insisted.

For the deputy, the problem is that, from now on, the Lula government will only have two ways to deal with the results of public accounts: either change the fiscal target or make a spending contingency in this year of municipal elections. “Zero deficit makes the PAC unviable. The government has already sent a tight budget proposal, the Chamber moved forward, investment fell even further and now there will be contingencies”, highlighted Lindbergh.