São Paulo – The former minister of Finance, Delfim Netto, said that Brazil imported a crisis that was not its own, out of excessive "solidarity" from bankers in the country in following the rest of the world by reducing the supply of credit to companies. According to him, the Central Bank also had a delayed reaction, not offering “the comfort that it might have offered at that moment.”
“My sentiment is that we have imported the crisis on September 16th. Brazil is a country with a rigid financial system, and it is relatively closed to the international market. Brazil did not need to have imported this crisis,” said Delfim Netto in an interview to news agency Agência Brasil, and to the Repórter Brasil TV show, which aired last evening (16th) on TV Brasil.
To Delfim, the economic crisis should not cause much concern to the candidates to next year’s presidential elections, as he believes that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by up to 4% in 2010, doing away for good with all of the "snake oil salesmen" who usually appear at times of crisis, with solutions for all problems.
“Next year, by the time of the election, we should have a GDP growth rate of 3.8%, 4%. This is interesting, because it means that Brazil is going to free itself. If the elections were to take place amidst recession, then the ‘snake oil salesmen,’ who sell a remedy that treats from ingrown nail to cancer, would proliferate in Brazil, causing lots of damage. But if the country is growing the way I think it will be growing, then only the truly viable and reasonable candidates will remain,” he said.
Delfim stated that the critical moment of the crisis in Brazil was the fourth quarter of last year, and now the economy is already showing signs of recovery. He said that the oil reserves in the so-called pre-salt layer constitute one of the advantages of the country for overcoming the world crisis.
"The pre-salt should bring about total change. The expansion of Brazil used to always be aborted by either an energy crisis or a current account crisis. The pre-salt solves both at the same time. It is located 300 kilometres off the coast, 6,000 metres deep, but we know how to get there," he said.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
