SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he needs convincing on the need for his government to cut spending, and did not rule out the possibility of Brazil not complying with its fiscal target, according to extracts of an interview to be published on Tuesday.
“It’s a matter of vision”, Lula said in the interview with local broadcaster Record TV, after being asked about the fiscal target. “You are not obligated to set a goal and achieve it if you have more important things to do”, he said.
Parts of the television interview were released on Tuesday afternoon, while the full interview will be broadcast later in the day.
Lula said, however, that Brazil will do “whatever is needed” to meet its fiscal target, which aims to eliminate the primary deficit, with a tolerance band of 0.25 percentage point of GDP in either direction.
He also said it would “not be a problem” for Brazil to post primary deficits of 0.1% or 0.2% of GDP.
Brazil’s economic team is expected to unveil next week a bimonthly fiscal report, which investors are eager to get details of as it could bring the need to cut or block more spending to comply with the fiscal framework.
(Reporting by Andre Romani; additional reporting by Victor Borges; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
