São Paulo, 9/1/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Inflation is a problem that has been basically resolved in Brazil and now there is no reason that the country cannot grow, says minister of Finance, Antonio Palocci. "What Brazil needs to do is get on track with consistent, long-term growth," declared the minister.

According to Palocci, the task at hand is to identify bottlenecks that have held up growth for the last 20 years. As an example, he cited difficulties in the energy sector where, he said, "If we do not take care of this problem it will not take care of us."

Palocci said the rationing period last year was a serious obstacle to growth. But, he added, there was a positive side to the problem in that people learned how to economize electricity and continue to economize on the electricity bill which has removed the threat of new rationing. (AB)