On Tuesday, October 11, Brazil’s Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, criticized the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for projections about Brazil for 2023.
The statement was made during an interview with journalists.
“They are forecasting low growth for next year. Possibly, they think that the ‘other candidate’ will win,” he said.
When questioned about the reason for the results, Guedes said that the IMF acted out of “militancy.”
He participates in the IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, USA.
Guedes commented on environmental policies and said President Jair Bolsonaro’s (Liberal Party – PL, right) government is conducting an “adjustment in Brazilian environmental legislation.”
According to him, all preservation of natural and environmental resources will now be remunerated.
“We are helping to build a 3-pillar system for the environmental economy of the future: taxing pollution, stimulating innovation, and rewarding the preservation of natural resources,” he added.
Guedes also made comments about Brazil’s poverty rates. “Brazil managed to reduce, in relative terms, a lot the absolute poverty level,” he said.
According to him, the government has “ensured that the most vulnerable have access to food.”
“It may be more expensive, the cost of transportation may have gone up, but we have reduced taxes and increased the transfer of income,” he declared.
He affirmed that the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should grow 2.5% in 2022, surpassing all initial projections of market analysts, which at the beginning of the year estimated growth of 0.3%.
IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas projected worse economic conditions for 2023. In a press conference, he said that “the worst is yet to come.”
According to the agency, world economic growth for 2022 remained stable at +3.2%. For the next year, it decreased from 2.9% to 2.7%.
“The three largest economies, the United States, China, and the eurozone, will remain stagnant. The worst is yet to come, and for many people, 2023 will look like a recession,” it said.
In the report, the IMF attributed the results to 3 factors: war in Ukraine, the economic slowdown in China, and rising living costs caused by persistent and growing inflationary pressures.
Inflation control is the IMF’s priority for 2022 and 2023.
The agency lowered its expected US growth expectation in 2022 from 2.3% to 1.6%. The projection for 2023 is 1%.
According to the IMF, China’s economic activity should increase by 3.2% in 2022.
In 2023, it should be 4.4%. The Euro Zone should grow 3.1% this year, while the projection is 0.5% next year.
With information from Poder360