Brasilia (EFE).- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Thursday that his government will promote a “new industrial revolution” in order to make this sector more competitive, which he considered key to economic and social development .
Lula spoke during a meeting of a sectoral council that will have the task of designing a new industrial policy, which will aim to promote national production, even as a “great supplier” of inputs for a vast infrastructure program that the Government plans to present this same month.
The president stressed the importance of the industry for the development of the country and the generation of employment and wealth, and regretted that in recent years the sector was “disincentivized” by policies that promoted imports.
The National Council for Industrial Development has 42 members, and includes government ministers and representatives of industry employers and worker unions, who will be responsible for the final design of the new policy for the sector.
Brazil targets all industrial sectors
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, coordinator of the council, declared that a “reindustrialization” of the country will be promoted, in which the industrial sector has gone from representing 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 1970 to “less than 10%”. currently.
That recovery plan will include initiatives to increase production in all industrial sectors through public loans and partnerships with the private sector, with correct environmental practices and “sustainability” as a “flag”, Alckmin said.
The Minister of the Presidency, Rui Costa, anticipated that a vast infrastructure works plan, which will be presented in the coming days and will include everything from roads, railways, sanitation and housing to the promotion of clean energy, will be inserted into this new industrial policy. .
According to Costa, the intention is to “guarantee national supply in all works,” for which it will be necessary to “articulate the production chains” in order to “make them more competitive.”
Interest rates, a central issue
At the meeting, both the representatives of the Government and those of the private sector charged again against the policies of the Central Bank, autonomous since 2021, which maintain the reference interest at a high 13.75% in a scenario of decreasing inflation.
The president of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Robson Andrade, affirmed that the investment capacity of a sector that needs to have access to new technologies to recover its competitiveness, both internally and internationally, depends on the reduction in rates. external.
He was supported by the president of the state National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloizio Mercadante, who assured that the public bank is “ready” to finance these new policies, but clarified that the participation of the private financial sector will be “essential”. to support that initiative.