Global downturn will not lead Brazil into recession: FM
31/10/2008 17:29
The global financial crisis will not lead Brazil into an economic
recession, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said yesterday.
At a public hearing
held by a Senate economic committee, Mantega and Brazil's Central Bank President
Henrique Meirelles explained the steps taken by the government to tackle the
worldwide financial downturn.
A strong economic deceleration in the developed
countries is inevitable, and "those countries must take measures to prevent a
recession as the Great Depression in 1929," Mantega said, noting that the
economic recession would not be duplicated in Brazil.
"I believe there will
be a deceleration in consumption and some economic activities in Brazil, but not
a recession," the minister said, adding that taxation was also likely to
decrease.
Though the worst part of the crisis may already be over, it is
necessary to pay the utmost attention to the economy, he said.
The government
has no immediate plans to make budget cuts, he added.
He also commented on
the losses suffered by several large Brazilian companies that had invested in
financial derivatives and expressed his confidence that they would recover from
the crisis.
Xinhua
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