“We are not going to interfere in the price of anything,” declares Jair Bolsonaro amid doubts about his economic policy

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, insisted this Sunday that “the price of nothing” will not intervene, amid growing inflation and the doubts of the markets about the government’s economic policy after altering the rules of fiscal responsibility.

“We are not going to interfere in the price of anything. That was done in the past and it did not work, “said the president, anticipating that there will be a new fuel readjustment soon.

The average price of gasoline and diesel have risen in Brazil by around 40% so far this year, driven by the rise in oil in the international market and the strong appreciation of the US dollar against the Brazilian real.

The far-right leader said that the state oil company Petrobras is “tied” to international prices and that his government cannot do anything against that.

“I have no power to interfere with Petrobras,” he assured.

In contrast to these statements, Bolsonaro appointed Army Reserve General Joaquim Silva e Luna as the new president of Petrobras last February, after weeks of criticizing the repeated readjustments in fuel prices, which continue to occur today.

Bolsonaro spoke to the press together with his Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, while they walked around a market in Brasilia, in a new attempt to show signs of unity after the nervousness in the markets of recent days.

The Sao Paulo stock market registered a weekly fall of 7.3%, after four senior positions in the Ministry of Economy resigned, motivated by the government’s decision to alter the spending ceiling to extend aid to the poorest in 2022, year in which Bolsonaro will try his re-election.

“We are doing that at the limit of fiscal responsibility,” the president guaranteed.

For his part, Guedes defended that “the reformulation of the spending ceiling is technically correct.”

“The president has to make a very difficult political decision. If he respects the ceiling, he leaves 17 million families starving, ”said the minister, an orthodox liberal from the Chicago School.

Guedes also hurried the Senate to advance in the structural reforms that are in process, such as an administrative and a tax reform, and thus have more space in the budget.

“Brazil is growing and Brazil is going to grow,” he said, despite record unemployment levels, above 14%, and runaway inflation that has exceeded 10% year-on-year. (I)