Brasília - Development will be the government's battle cry for the next two years. According to the head of the President's Civilian Advisory Staff, Minister José Dirceu, who spoke at the end of a two-day Cabinet meeting held Friday (10) and Saturday (11), President Lula and his aides arrived at the conclusion that sustainable economic growth will be "the priority among priorities."

"Development translates into growth with employment, social inclusion, and income distribution with democracy," Dirceu commented, emphasizing that, in addition to the priorities of each Ministry, the government as a whole will concentrate on making development viable, and this includes social justice. "Without income distribution and social inclusion, we cannot contemplate development. The country's development must be economic and social. This constitutes a unmistakable aspect of our government and its reason for being."

According to the Minister, this development will take place without changes in economic policy, which has required the country to economize in recent years to guarantee the primary fiscal surplus, which currently corresponds to 4.5% of the Gross Domestic Product, and to adopt a strict policy of inflation control. "The effort the government will make means combining economic policy and public financing with measures to stimulate and lever private investment. For private investment to grow in our country, we need economic stability, fiscal responsibility, and control of inflation. Without this, the rest is all an illusion," he affirmed.

Dirceu stated that the government will count on a credit incentive policy and an increase in domestic savings to ensure this leverage and promote a lightening of the tax burden in order to lower the cost of consumer goods. Furthermore, it intends to develop partnerships with private enterprise to make investments in infrastructure viable. Without these investments, economic growth will be at risk. "We have the resources to make these priorities viable. It is unnecessary to change the surplus or economic policy. We need political initiative and creativity. For this reason we need to back the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) project."

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Edla Lula
Translator: David Silberstein
12/13/2004