São Paulo, April 28, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - It is important to unite economic growth and a simultaneous campaign against social inequality. This was the message conveyed in this capital, on Friday (25), by the Secretary of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Finance, Marcos Lisboa. According to Lisboa, about a third of the Brazilian population is poor, and 15% are extremely poor. "Growth is not enough; it is also necessary to combat inequality," he said.

The Secretary affirmed that it is more efficient to combat poverty by distributing income than counting on income growth to achieve this goal. As an example, he stated that a reduction of 10% in extreme poverty would produce a decline of the same magnitude in social inequality, whereas, to produce the same results through economic growth, it would be necessary for per capita income to increase 3% annually for 25 years. (DAS)