RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro said he heard from entrepreneurs on Thursday, March 5th, that “Brazil is doing well”. Once again, he declined to answer questions from journalists when arriving at the Alvorada Palace.
“What I heard from the businessmen there is that Brazil is doing well, it’s very different from what you publish,” said Bolsonaro.
Together with his Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, Bolsonaro attended a meeting promoted by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), at the organization’s headquarters in the São Paulo capital.
After the meeting, Guedes stated that he projects a two percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020 and conceded that he is working with an estimate different from that made by the Secretariat of Economic Policy (SPE), subordinated to the portfolio he commands.
The SPE projects growth of 2.4 percent in 2020 and the number is expected to be revised next week. Guedes pointed out that the SPE’s estimate is calculated by “sophisticated economists”, who use econometric models.