[ad_1]
The Brazilian president, Jair bolsonaro, stated this Tuesday that Brazil is bankrupt and that he can do nothing to remedy it, and said that the crisis generated by Covid-19 affected the economy, but that the press was responsible for making it even worse by magnifying the effects of the pandemic.
“Brazil is bankrupt. I can’t do anything. I wanted to modify the income tax table, but could not“said the far-right leader in statements that he granted to a group of followers in front of the gate of the Alvorada Palace, the residence of the Brazilian Presidency.
The head of state referred to the serious economic situation of the country when asked whether his Government did not intend to extend the payment of the subsidies it granted until December to help the most vulnerable to alleviate the effects of the pandemic and that benefited some 60 million unemployed, informal and poor.
This subsidy, which in its first months amounted to 1,200 reais (about $ 230.8) but was reduced by half between October and December, lost its validity and the Government does not intend to renew it due to the serious situation of public accounts from the country.
Bolsonaro said that another way to help families in the current situation would be to reduce income tax and he recalled the promise he made during the electoral campaign to increase the percentage of Brazilians exempt from paying it, something unlikely now because the pandemic reduced tax revenues and increased public expenditures.
When questioned about the cause of the serious economic situation, he stated that “There is that virus (covid-19) potentiated by those media that we have, by those media without character that we have”.
According to the president, the press develops “an incessant work of trying to wear down (the Government) to get us out of here and be able to attend to their dark interests. “
Bolsonaro, leader of the Brazilian far-right denier and one of the most skeptical heads of state about the seriousness of the pandemic, has also blamed regional and municipal governments for the worsening of the country’s economic situation for imposing social distancing measures to try to stop the advance of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
According to the latest projections from the Government and economic experts, Brazil ended 2020 with an economic contraction of about 4.5%, the highest for a year in several decades, but a much lower percentage than expected in the first months of the pandemic, when the IMF estimated that Brazil would retreat by about 9%.
Despite the fact that most economic activities have recovered in recent months and some are operating at pre-pandemic levels, unemployment continues to rise and distrust of employers and investors remains high.
For many economists, economic recovery depends on the speed and effectiveness with which Brazil manages to promote a vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, but the Government still does not have a date for the start of the immunization process.
Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic, the second with the most deaths after the United States, with almost 200,000 deaths, and the third with the most cases after the United States and India, with some 7.8 million contagions.
