Lula calls for public banks to finance works in states and municipalities to boost economy

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Tuesday that the country’s public banks should finance works in states and municipalities to generate employment and boost the economy.

“It doesn’t make sense that a bank wouldn’t want to lend money to a state or a mayor to do necessary work.”

“If the state and the city have problems, the money will not stay in the banks’ vaults to earn interest; it will be paid with work to improve people’s quality of life,” said the president during a meeting of the National Front of Mayors (FNP).

Lula gave as an example the resumption of the government program “My House, My Life”, which offers housing for the poorest families.

He asked the mayors for support in the concession of public lands to construct popular residences.

“If the mayor can cede the land, we can build a much cheaper house for the poorest people in this country,” he defended.

According to the president, there are about 186,000 houses whose construction works were paralyzed by previous governments, besides wanting to reach the goal of two million low-income housing units built in the next few years.

The Brazilian president also explained that the federal government would also collect national assets that may be destined for low-income housing.

“I ordered our Minister of Planning to make a survey of all the public lands that the Federal Government has and to make a survey of all the assets, in the capitals, buildings, houses, stores, everything that is abandoned, so that we can try to transform it into decent housing for the poorest of this country”, he said.