Joaquim Levy arrives at the Ministry of Finance after meeting with President Dilma Rousseff at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia (DF) (Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters)
The situation of the finance minister, Joaquim Levy, is so delicate within the government that President Dilma Rousseff climbed two of his ministers, Aloysio Mercadante and Edinho Silva, to say that Levy is.The very claims of the Treasury holder that will not leave the boat have not convinced the public, nor the market - see the surge of the dollar on Thursday. To convene the meeting with Levy, Nelson Barbosa and Mercadante on the afternoon of Thursday, President Dilma wanted to set the hands to the economic team to try to reassure the market before the stock market closing. The dollar reached 3.81 reais, then stepped back and closed stable. He left the Presidential Palace, about 17 hours, Levy did not speak to the press. He went straight and silent.
It was up to ministers Edinho Silva and Aloysio Mercadante claiming that Levy and the government are "aligned" and that the minister remains part of the team. "Levy is because they never left," Edinho said to some journalists, after the meeting. Mercadante already held a press conference at the Presidential Palace to deny Levy exit rumors and say that the government is sure that Congress will adopt all necessary measures to recover the health budget. "Clearly (Levy) is. He has a commitment with Brazil and with this project. Are you aware of the importance. And more. It was not dealt with this issue. We deal with a constructive agenda." On the way out, Mercadante released: "Who bet against (the Levy residence), will take bellyful."
The emergency meeting convened at the Presidential Palace caused the minister to postpone his trip to the G20 meeting in Turkey, scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday. According to the press office of the minister, Levy will leave on another flight to Turkey even late on Thursday.
According to Mercadante, the meeting was scheduled to discuss the tax situation and measures to increase the spending cuts and reduce the budget shortfall next year. Mercadante spoke in improving the management of public spending, especially mandatory, and said that we must carry out pension reform that the Minister of accounts represent 55% of mandatory spending. According to the budget text delivered to the Senate on Monday, the government plans to spend 30.5 billion more than it should raise in 2016 - an optimistic view in the view of some lawmakers, who bet on higher deficit to 60 billion reais . "The country can not get comfortable with a 30-billion deficit. Our struggle continues to improve accounts. The meeting was this. We are aligned and we have jobs to do," said the Minister of Governance.
Two sources consulted by the SEE site said Dilma Mercadante instructed to strengthen the government's concern with cost control to reverse the negative impact of the budget announcement.The idea of deep reforms and "structural" has been ventilated to exhaustion by the Presidential interlocutors, who want to get the message of caution by the president. Despite the pro-set speech, the rhetoric of "exaggerated pessimism" and "us versus them" remains.