Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva once again came out in defense of his administration’s economic policy. "In this government we do not have a minister Palocci economic policy. We have a governmental economic policy that everyone in the government is involved in," said the President.

Lula added that when economic policy is successful, everybody wins. If it is not, everybody loses. As for internal disputes in the government, Lula said they are common occurrences in all governments.

He cited what he called the eternal conflict between developmentalists and monetarists. "If someone wants to speculate on the economy, he should leave the government alone and go to the São Paulo stock market," concluded Lula.

Agribusiness Exports

With exports of US$ 36.2 billion from January to October this year, up 9.6% compared to the same period last year, the Brazilian farm sector has set another a new record. However, there has been a slowdown in the rate of growth: in 2004 exports during the same period were up 29.5% over 2003 exports.

Antônio Donizeti Beraldo, of the National Agricultural Confederation (CNA), says that one reason for the lower growth rate is the worldwide super soy harvest this year.

"Soy accounts for 25% of our sector exports," he says, adding that the outlook is for international prices of soy to remain low throughout 2006.

Agência Brasil