The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), refuted the criticisms that the former Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad (PT), his opponent in the dispute for re-election, has made towards the State’s fiscal policy. Tarcísio stated that the PT member “broke Brazil”, “didn’t work for three years” and left the population’s debt and high interest rates as a legacy.
“All that was needed was for Haddad to come and talk about the fiscal policy of the State of São Paulo. You’re kidding me. The guy who broke Brazil is going to talk about the State of São Paulo? I would be ashamed,” said the governor, in a press conference this Tuesday, 5th, adding that Haddad’s “legacy” in the federal government includes the population’s high indebtedness and high interest rates.
Earlier, in his speech, Tarcísio had already made indirect criticisms of Haddad and the federal government. “It’s time to give this group a red card, they won’t come back,” he said, at an annual review event for his infrastructure program, “São Paulo Pra Toda Obra”.
Recently, former Finance Minister Fernando Haddad (PT) criticized São Paulo’s financial health and even stated that Tarcísio’s administration is the worst since governor Luiz Antônio Fleury, elected in 1990.
“If it weren’t for the debt renegotiation that I conducted together with Rodrigo Pacheco, who was president of Congress, São Paulo I don’t think would have closed his order [Tarcísio]. São Paulo is without cash. He received a volume of cash resources from the previous government. And he has no money today. And selling Sabesp, increasing the water bill, renegotiating the debt. If it weren’t for that, São Paulo would be even worse”, said the PT member in an interview with the portal Metropolises.
Tarcísio also said that “those who question the financial health of São Paulo” left an increase of seven points in the debt/GDP ratio. He added that he was left with a mass of defaulters, a record number of judicial recoveries, the highest tax burden and the second highest real interest rate in the world.
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“There are people who need to be retired. And can I talk? They will be retired this year”, continued the governor, who supports senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) for the Presidency of the Republic.
At the press conference, when asked about Haddad’s statement that he would be submissive to Donald Trump and that the tariff would have harmed the State of São Paulo more than other units of the federation, Tarcísio replied: “What does the State of São Paulo have to do with Trump? We don’t do foreign policy here. He didn’t work for three years and now he wants to talk nonsense.”
The event, which brought together dozens of mayors at the São Paulo government headquarters, also featured other speeches critical of the PT. The mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), for example, mentioned the trillion-dollar expenditure on interest on public debt and the fact that Brazil continues to have the second highest real interest rate in the world.
