Reformist Message Should Win Next Election, Says Brazil's Finance Minister

08/22/2017 - 10h52

A presidential candidate running on a reformist platform, who promises to maintain the current government's efforts to control expenses and put public spending in order, will have a good chance in the next election, declared Henrique Meirelles, Brazil's Finance Minister.

"If you ask me who is going to win, I believe that a reformist message should win", he said on Monday (the 21st) in an interview with Folha. "The populist position has been sufficiently tested and the result was negative. The population has been alerted to this."

A member of the PSD, one of the parties that supports President Michel Temer in Congress, Meirelles has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the governing block for the presidential elections of 2018, but he changes the subject when questioned about the idea.

"I am focused on my work, which is to carry out the reforms and ensure the growth of the country for the next few years", he says. "I'm not worried about [my] future".

Last week, when announcing an increase in the forecast for the deficit in the federal budget for this year and next, the Finance Ministry lowered its forecast for economic growth for next year from 2.5% to 2%. The forecast for this year is 0,5%.

In Meirelles' opinion, a platform in favor of reform and austerity will have a good chance in the presidential election if it is associated with a recovery of the economy, which seems to be slowly emerging from the deep recession it has been in for the last three years.

"If we leave it for the next government, they will start out with a problem, having to confront Social Security reform after two years that were lost", said the Minister.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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	Sergio Lima/AFP
	Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles gestures to journalists while leaving the ministry, in Brasilia