SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A majority of Brazilians do not believe the government’s package of tax reforms and spending cuts will be enough to address their country’s fiscal deficit, a poll published on Wednesday said.
Among respondents who knew about the measures now pending Congressional approval, 68% said they would not be enough to improve Brazil’s public accounts, the Genial/Quaest survey found.
A narrow majority of Brazilians continue to approve of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s performance leading the South American country and believe the economy will improve in the next 12 months, the poll said.
A slight majority of Brazilians, or 51%, expect the economy to improve over the next 12 months, compared to 45% in the previous survey in October, the survey found.
Approval of Lula’s performance as president rose 1 percentage point to 52% since October, and his Workers Party minority government’s approval rating edged up to 33% from 32%, the poll said.
The poll by the Quaest institute and commissioned by Genial Investimentos interviewed 8,598 people in person between December 4-9, and has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.
The survey was conducted before the 79-year-old Brazilian president underwent surgery on Tuesday to drain bleeding resulting from a fall he had at home in October. Doctors said he was recovering well in hospital on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Ros Russell)
