Lula: “Good money is money for construction works”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva held a meeting with 13 ministers in Brasília on Friday (Mar. 10) to discuss infrastructure projects for the country. It is the government’s role, he argued, to boost investments to propel job generation and economic growth.

“There’s no use crying over money we don’t have. We have to put the money we do have to good use. That’s why [Fernando] Haddad is finance minister—because he’s creative. If we don’t have money, we turn to him and it’s his job to find it. He and [Planning and Budget Minister] Simone [Tebet] will get the funding we need for investment in the country,” President Lula said as he opened the meeting at the Planalto presidential palace.

“We’ll say the GDP is going to grow because we’re going to make it grow. We’re going to create jobs with the little things. We’re going to make investment,” he added.

Other assemblies on the matter should involve state-run banks, such as Banco do Brasil and development bank BNDES, Lula went on to note. In his view, it is the role of these institutions to grant credit to small and medium entrepreneurs, cooperatives, large businessmen, as well as to state and local governments that can take on debt.

Later this month, Lula is expected to make a trip to China, after which the president should inaugurate a number of construction projects. When he took office, Lula said, the new government found 14 thousand building sites inactive across the country, many with little time left for completion.

On Twitter, President Lula announced the program Mãos à Obra (“Hands to Work”) program, aimed at joining forces with city officials to identify key projects in each region. The initiative is having its online platform launched at a ceremony in Brasília Friday afternoon.