Tunis – The minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, Miguel Jorge, said today (29), in Tunis, that the government of Brazil decided to go back on the decision of requiring a prior import license due to the "hysteria" that the measure caused and to the pressure of importers.
"As there was great pressure by importers – who felt harmed by a 48 hour measure that had not even caused any effect yet -, and due to the power of the media, we changed our mind," he said, in a press conference in the Tunisian capital. The minister is heading a trade delegation to North Africa this week.
According to Jorge, there was "hysteria" over a measure whose objective was "just to review statistics so that the government could follow imports and exports better".
The government had once again established the obligation for a prior license for imports, an instrument that, in practice, allows for the control of entry of products in the country. This measure was used during the military dictatorship during the 1980s, when the economy of Brazil was very closed.
Jorge stated that the measure had been taken for technical reasons: a disparity between import statistics of the Ministry of Development and the Finance Ministry. The minister added that he considered the measure correct, but that he decided against it and is now going to study other measures to follow the Brazilian trade flow more clearly, "without causing market hysteria".
*Translated by Mark Ament
