Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that no work in the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), no large infrastructure project in Brazil will be paralyzed due to the international financial crisis.
"I have made my mind: in order to face the crisis, which did not originate here in Brazil, but rather at the center of global capitalism, the only solution, and the best one, is to produce more, invest more in infrastructure works and continue to make the cash circulate, so that people have access to products and, consequently, are able to help develop the Brazilian industry," said Lula, after luncheon with the king of Jordan, Abdullah II, at the Brazilian foreign office (Itamaraty), in the capital Brasília.
Lula answered questions from journalists about the measures announced by the government over the last few days, which, among other things, allow for public banks to buy shares of private institutions facing trouble.
"We are not going to give away money to any company, any bank, and what is more, we are not giving away any money at all. It is important to make it clear that whoever makes a mistake is going to pay for it. What the government might do at some point is buy shares and, as the company recovers, sell the shares back," he declared. "We are not going to give away money because we are not going to benefit speculators," he said.
The president underscored the fact that the government is making credit available in order to solve the problem of lack of liquidity in the market, be it by reducing the mandatory deposits that banks must make at the Central Bank of Brazil, be it by means of injecting part of the country's foreign exchange reserves in order to finance foreign trade.
"We will continue to work and keep our calm. I have been telling workers to go on buying what needs to be bought, and I have been telling businessmen to go on investing in the projects they had decided to invest in," he said.
According to Lula, if the country is careful in managing the effects of the crisis, then as soon as the crisis ends "Brazil will surely also be better prepared to take a quality leap. Because this is going to be taken into account once the (world) economy regains its liquidity. That is why I am approaching this with a certain calm, even though I am naturally concerned, from seeing the whole world concerned," he said.
According to the president, the measures adopted by the government were "thought out in a very articulate manner so as to enable us to solve the problems as they occur. And then we anticipated some of them (problems)," he stated.
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