Guedes Says He Will Announce Three or Four Privatizations Within 60 Days

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said yesterday, August 6th, that within 30 to 60 days he will announce three or four large company privatizations.

He took part in an online event organized by the Fundación Internacional para la Libertad (International Foundation for Freedom), chaired by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

“We will be announcing three or four large company privatizations,” said the Minister, who will not name the companies at this point. He said he believed he would have the support of the National Congress.

Guedes said that President Jair Bolsonaro is supporting the government with privatizations and reforms.

He further said that, after the extraordinary spending needed to tackle the crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government will restart its fiscal trajectory in 2021, with reduced spending.

He mentioned that if it were not for the crisis caused by the pandemic, the primary deficit (revenues minus expenses, excluding interest expenses) would stand at one percent of everything the country produces – Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

With the extraordinary expenses required to face the crisis, this percentage should remain at 11 percent. “Next year, we will dramatically reduce spending,” he said.

Source: Agência Brasil