Haddad on criticism of the PT: Natural for there to be debate; we live democracy

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddadminimized criticism from members of the Workers’ Party (PT) of the fiscal adjustment package prepared by the economic team. He said that it is “natural” that there should be a debate, but reiterated that the measures under discussion are for the “good of workers”.

“We are living in a democracy, fortunately, it is natural for there to be debate. We are very sure of what we are doing. It’s for the good of the workers. Controlling inflation is part of our job. Maintaining economic activity is part of our job. It’s a balance. It is a balance between important variables for all Brazilians”, said the minister.

Haddad reiterated that the idea is to maintain the sustainability of the Brazilian economy. According to the minister, the economy is growing “well” at the moment, with inflation under control, despite the reservation regarding the supply shock on some items which, according to him, has generated concern. “But we want to grow with low inflation and wage growth,” he said.

As shown by the Estadão/Broadcastwhile the list of cost containment measures is not defined by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his allies in the PT and other parties in the allied base in Congress hope that education, health and social assistance do not suffer cuts that could hurt the party image after municipal elections in which the left was already weakened. The president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), for example, has spoken out against the possibility of reducing expenses in these areas.

Haddad also said that he did not have time to follow the debate on the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) authored by federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) which foresees the end of the 6×1 scale (six days of work, one of rest). Although it did not obtain enough signatures to begin processing, the PEC is already having repercussions among parliamentarians and on social media.