Guedes: PEC dos Precatórios is not a default, it is to avoid a default - ISTOÉ MONEY

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes once again rejected criticism that the government was defaulting by postponing payment of court orders. He guaranteed that the government will pay the totality of the more than R$89 billion in court sentences, an amount sliced by the PEC of the precatório.

“PEC dos Precatórios is not a default, it is to avoid a default,” Guedes said during an interview with the program Free Channel, of the Band. “Everything will be fulfilled and everything will be paid”, he added. The minister repeated that the PEC does not represent a hole in the spending ceiling rule, but rather a synchronization of the greatest expenses with the device.

After expressing confidence in the approval of the PEC in Congress, Guedes considered “reasonable and understandable” the changes in the ceiling to make room for social spending when politicians are asked to respond to news that Brazilians are eating bones.

During the interview, Guedes highlighted the improvement in public accounts this year, when, for the first time since 2013, public sector finances – including, in addition to the Union, state, state government and city halls – will close in the blue (revenues higher than expenses) . He also said that there was an error of more than R$ 2 trillion in economists’ forecasts about the growth of the public debt, which should close the year at 80% of GDP, with a primary deficit of less than 1%.