Simone Tebet: Let's bet that Brazil will grow above 2% in 2024

The Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet, said this Tuesday, 9th, that she is betting that the Brazilian economy will grow by more than 2% in 2024, against the market's less optimistic forecast. The Focus bulletin released this Monday, 8th, by the Central Bank points to an increase of 1.59% in the GDP growth estimate this year.

“They are saying that it will grow 1.5%, so let’s bet that Brazil will grow above 2%”, said Tebet in an interview with EBC’s A Voz do Brasil program, recalling that, at the beginning of 2023, estimates for the economy were lower and were revised throughout the year. The minister's bet for 2024 is in line with the forecast already used by the federal government, prepared by the Ministry of Finance, which estimates an increase in GDP of 2.2% this year.

To justify his optimism, Tebet cited, for example, PAC investments and what he called the market's “credibility” regarding the management of the economy by the Finance and Planning team, built over the last year. In Tebet's view, the economic team knew how to send the “right messages” and dialogue with Congress. “He acted with transparency and Congress responded to our demands and was a great partner of the government,” said the minister.

In his assessment, the approvals last year of the tax reform and the Executive's new fiscal rule – known as the fiscal framework – had an “immediate and direct impact” to build credibility with the market, ensuring that the government will not “spend for the sake of spending” and that, although the current management is not focused on creating “savings and cash”, it will not be able to spend more than it will collect.

“The magic word is credibility. We tell the private sector that this government is serious, that it focuses on social issues without neglecting public money. No one is going to spend for the sake of spending, we don't need to save money, but we can't spend more than we earn. This has an impact, we had a drop in inflation, interest rates, controlled exchange rates, cheaper food on workers' tables and we closed the year with almost 2 million more workers in the job market,” he stated.