Brasília, June 26, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - On Wednesday (24), the Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, commented that the macroeconomic policies adopted by the Administration during its first six months make it possible, now, for the government adopt development policies on behalf of the low income population. "We are currently able to verify that the risks faced by the Brazilian economy at the end of last year and the beginning of this year have definitively been overcome," he emphasized, recalling that all forecasts point to an inflation of 7%, with a tendency to fall.

"Brazil has definitively left the emergency care ward and is currently able to set out on a cautious growth path," the Minister declared, adding that the economic team will not neglect the control of inflation. "The government has one eye turned towards macroeconomics and the other towards people's lives," he pointed out.

The Minister was at the Planalto Palace, taking part in the launching of the Micro-Credit Program, and, in his speech, he emphasized at various moments that the final objective of the government is income distribution and betterment in the lives of low-income earners and that macroeconomic policy is only the means to attain these ends. (DAS)