A very conservative Brazilian congress will test President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s ability to deliver on his social agenda without pushing for ideologically-driven policies that would be “rejected by the majority of the population,” according to commodities mogul Rubens Ometto.
(Bloomberg) — A very conservative Brazilian congress will test President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s ability to deliver on his social agenda without pushing for ideologically-driven policies that would be “rejected by the majority of the population,” according to commodities mogul Rubens Ometto.
“Recent changes in the relationship between the president and congress have made the congress more independent,” the 73-year-old chairman of Cosan SA said in a speech during a dinner party held by the Americas Society Tuesday in New York City. “That has created a challenging environment for the new government.”
Lula, who won a third mandate after beating Jair Bolsonaro by a thin margin in last year’s presidential election, has struggled to build a reliable base of congressional support needed to approve proposals that lack broad consensus in the legislature, include part of his environmental agenda.
Read More: Brazil Congress Backs Lula’s Cabinet, But Tests Green Agenda
Ometto hailed reforms carried out by Lula’s predecessors, including one that reduced the burden of the nation’s pension system on public coffers and another making labor legislation more flexible — both opposed by the president’s Workers’ Party. The billionaire, who’s turned a sugar and ethanol producer into a sprawling energy and logistics conglomerate, added that the country “cannot step back and miss the important advances that were made in the last few years.”
Speaking to an audience that included Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou, the billionaire criticized Latin American left-wing governments for typically relying on formulas that “have already turned into disastrous outcomes.” Yet he spared the market-friendly Uruguayan leader, saying he was able to modernize the economy despite a polarized political environment.
Ometto, who is part of a government advisory committee led by Lula, also said the nation’s central bank should be able to start cutting interest rates in August or September after the approval of new fiscal rules by congress.
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