With help from Brazil, the number of people going hungry is lower, says Guedes

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said today that cash transfers have reduced poverty in the country. He disputed that there are 33 million people who are hungry in Brazil, a number raised by the Brazilian Research Network on Sovereignty and Food Security (PENSSAN Network) in June this year.

“It’s impossible to have 33 million people starving, because they’re getting three times what they used to get. Even though there was inflation, the price did not multiply by three. So, purchasing power is more than preserved with this new income transfer”, said Guedes, at the opening ceremony of the 30th Congress & ExpoFenabrave, in São Paulo, this Wednesday (21).

According to the minister, Brazil had 0.4% of its Gross Domestic Product from income transfers, for the most fragile. Now, after Auxílio Brasil, the transfer is 1.5% of GDP. Guedes also compared the situation of Brazilian poverty with that of other countries.

“Families below the poverty line in Brazil, which is just above 5%, will reach 4% by the end of the year. It is half the world level, the world level is rising from just 5%, it went to 9.5% by the end of the year. So, Brazil is performing better than the advanced economies,” said the minister.

The Minister of Economy defended that the country is recovering the growth and cited the Bulletin Focus, which weekly indicates the expectations for the market. “According to Focus, in September we may have the third deflation in a row, and it will be the quarter with the greatest deflation in Brazilian history. I used to say that they would spend the year reviewing the forecasts of upward growth and downward inflation in Brazil. And they were going to spend the year reviewing growth forecasts down outside and inflation up,” he recalled.

According to Guedes, Brazil will continue to grow because the consumption of lower incomes is reinforced. At the same time, the flexibilization of the ceiling, which had been poorly constructed, helped along this path, without hurting fiscal responsibility.

This Wednesday’s event, organized by the National Federation for the Distribution of Motor Vehicles, was also attended by the ministers Marcos Montes, of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply and Joaquim Leite, of the Environment, in addition to authorities such as the mayor of the city of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes.

Minister Marcos Montes highlighted the Brazilian economic overcoming after the Covid-19 pandemic. And he talked about the importance of the machinery used in the country’s agriculture and that helps agribusiness to become one of the highlights of the national economy.

The Minister of the Environment spoke about the partnership between the Ministry and the private sector, as a way of creating creative and ecologically correct solutions. Leite also defended the renewal of the fleet of cars, buses and trucks, recycling and environmental education in schools. “Brazil will be a great green economy… the world will produce in Brazil”