Brasília – This Thursday (22nd), the Brazilian minister of Finance, Guido Mantega, guaranteed that there will be more jobs available for the population in 2012. Besides, Brazilian families should maintain their consumption, though not extravagantly, because the government will adopt the necessary measures to address the reflections of the world crisis in Brazil. “The conditions of Brazilians will only improve,” he said, upon giving an assessment of the Brazilian economy and discussing the outlook for next year.
Guido Mantega also said the key challenge facing the government in 2012 lies in improving the population’s living conditions and preventing contagion by the international crisis. According to him, the global situation may worsen and cause more serious consequences to the country. The minister also mentioned the need to adopt measures to increase commercial defences amidst the crisis, due to which competition of international products with national ones is becoming fiercer.
The minister gave a positive assessment of the Brazilian economy in 2011. According to him, the country is ending the year while overcoming the repercussions of the crisis that plagues the world economy. “Fortunately, Brazil has managed to get through the year with excellent economic results. We will end the year with the sixth largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, at US$ 2.4 trillion. We have overtaken Italy and now we have the big ones ahead of us. We may pass France in the next few years,” he said.
According to Mantega, the international crisis scenario favours credit and interest rates. This is so, he said, because as global growth rates decline and inflationary pressure drops, it will be possible to lower financial market rates. “During crises, interest rates are usually lower. This is the trend and it favours a reduction in interest rates,” he claimed.
Regarding the growth of the economy in 2011, Guido Mantega posited that the world economic crisis caused a “slight decline in the rate of growth of the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP), by 0.5 to 1 percentage point. Thus, the Brazilian economy should grow by up to 3.5% this year, a slightly higher forecast than that of the Brazilian Central Bank (3%). Next year, the Ministry of Finance expects growth to range from 4% to 5%.”
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
