11/30/2023 – 9:17
Present in the delegation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Doha, Qatar, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, highlighted this Thursday, 30, that the US$ 10 billion that Saudi Arabia will invest in Brazil will improve logistics and the competitiveness of the economy.
“With Qatar, we are starting negotiations. With Saudi Arabia, it is already very advanced, and the fund that the Kingdom intends to establish is already underway. Qatar is a good promise,” he assessed.
In a quick interview at the Brazilian delegation’s hotel, the minister highlighted the advances in the economic agenda in Congress in recent days and said he was confident in the approval of the measures in time for their effects to guarantee the execution of the 2024 budget.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) we approved taxation of the so-called ‘super-rich’, which are offshore companies and closed-end funds, we have installed the joint commission of MP 1185, which corrects an absurd distortion of our tax system, causing large companies not to pay Income Tax, harming States and municipalities that no longer receive participation funds. We have the Betting Bill, which is also in the Senate and the bill should be voted on next week. We have Interest on Own Capital (JCP) which is also under discussion as to whether it will be voted on this year, which would be great for public accounts”, he listed.
Despite criticism from various sectors of the tax base recovery agenda, Haddad repeated that the measures only correct distortions in the tax system. “All of these are corrections of distortions from recent years, which undermined the fiscal base of the Brazilian State. These are interest groups that appropriated the public budget, harming the population, States, municipalities and the Union itself – which ends up bearing these costs”, he argued. “We will work until the last day for all of this to be approved. We have support from both the president of the Chamber and the Senate”, he added.
Exemption
Heavily attacked in recent days due to the complete veto on the extension of payroll tax relief for 17 sectors of the economy, the minister denied that the measures adopted by the government cause “controversy”. “If it were unfair, Congress wouldn’t even be looking at the issues. This was recognized by the best economists in the country. These are important corrections to an unfair tax system that puts the bill on the weakest side of society”, he emphasized.
Asked whether the measures presented are sufficient to achieve the goal of zero primary in 2024, Haddad once again said that he has other projects in the drawer to use if necessary. “If this cannot be achieved, we will take other measures. We can not stop. We have to pursue this goal obstinately, because Brazil could be the country with the best conditions for sustainable investment in the world, both from a social and environmental point of view,” he concluded.
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