Rio, September 8, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The government intends to stimulate competition among Brazilian firms, to make sure that, with the resumption of the process of economic growth, they don't opt for increasing their profit margins, generating inflation once again. This information comes from the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Bernard Appy, who took part in the seminar "Brazil in Development," sponsored by the Institute of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

At this moment, when the economy is recovering, according to Appy, it is more important for firms to fight for larger market shares than to raise their earnings. "I think that the signalling of macro-economic stability as a central element in the development process will also play an important role from the perspective of indicating to companies that the dispute over market shares will be more important than the eventual recovery of profit margins that might occur during this process," he emphasized.

The adjustments made by the government in the economy up to this point, Appy added, were important in that they guaranteed a new growth model based on the premise that economic stability will be a constant. He acknowledged that the process will undergo fluctuations, but these will be far smaller than the economic instability that marked the last 20 years of Brazil's history. (DAS)