He called attention to the fact that in December 2008, he called on the population to increase consumption, and that now the country finds itself in a more comfortable position.
"The economy is already growing in a more reasonable manner, and what we did was to announce measures in order to ensure that the economy will grow very strongly in 2010," said Lula while announcing the allocation of 80 billion Brazilian reais (US$ 45.6 billion) for the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to provide financing.
"If needed, we are going to make another 20 billion reais (US$ 11.4 billion) available to finance (the Brazilian state-controlled oil and gas multinational) Petrobras in pre-salt oil exploration," he added.
On his weekly radio show, Breakfast with the President, Lula claimed that the decision of extending until June 2010 the tariff reductions for sectors such as the so-called white line appliances is meant to encourage the population to continue buying, as well as to foster production.
"Aside from continuing to encourage consumption, we are encouraging investment and companies to hire more workers. We are complementing what we did last year."
Another objective, according to the president, was to enable the private financial sector, which usually does not loan money on a long term basis, to start doing so. To Lula, the measure paves the way for "competition" with the BNDES.
ABr