Brazilian president highlights successful relationship with Congress in political record of first year in office

BRASILIA, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Brazil is in a “very good situation” at the end of 2023, due, among other things, to the success in the relationship with Congress in approving important projects for the economy, the president said on Wednesday . Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reflecting on his first year in office.

In the last meeting of the year with his Cabinet of Ministers, after taking office on January 1st of this year, Lula da Silva emphasized the approval of the tax reform, which will be announced this Wednesday afternoon.

This reform has been discussed for three decades and includes a reduction in consumption taxes.

The Brazilian president thanked the heads of government in Congress and Finance Minister Fernando Haddad for their commitment to the negotiations with the various political groups.

“The first tax reform passed under a democratic regime in a National Congress in which all parties are medium or small was an extraordinary achievement. There is no party with 200 MPs,” he recalled.

However, Lula da Silva emphasized that it is not yet clear whether the change in tax legislation will produce “all the expected results”.

“It is like a tree that has been planted. We have to water it, add fertilizer and continue to work on perfecting it so that we can give the Brazilian people and everyone who wants to invest the security that the country has to do with.” “We are very careful about the economic one Ask. Seriousness,” he said.

“We are entering a very good situation (…) I think we have arrived at an exceptional situation if we take into account the reality with which we started,” he said.

At the beginning of the meeting, the President announced a different format for the meeting with ministers, government representatives in Congress and presidents of state-owned companies.

The meeting with the Cabinet of Ministers was closed and only Lula da Silva's speech was broadcast.

The President noted that ministers such as the person in charge of Cabinet, Treasury, Institutional Relations and Social Communications would explain the government's achievements in each area.