Government fiscal measure was "normal," says secretary.
Arno Augustin, from the National Treasury, defends the financial operation carried out to meet the fiscal surplus target in 2012 and says that critics are taking advantage of the transition period to undermine the government; the transfer of funds was strongly criticized by the opposition and the press; the action was "absolutely normal," he affirms.
247 – National Treasury Secretary Arno Augustin defended on Monday, the 7th, the measures taken by the government to meet the fiscal surplus target in 2012. According to him, the act of transferring funds to federal banks, called by the opposition an "accounting maneuver," is "absolutely normal, predictable, and usual." He stated that critics took advantage of a moment of economic transition to undermine the government.
In an interview with the newspaper The State of São PauloThe Treasury chief says he "doesn't see how anyone could view the fact that the government has companies that generate profits and distribute dividends as exceptional." Augustin stated that there are a series of rules for calculating dividends and that "all of them were rigorously followed." Regarding the fact that Caixa Econômica Federal had a profit of R$ 4,1 billion but paid R$ 7,7 billion in dividends, he replied: "That's the accounting profit."
When questioned by the newspaper about whether there had been any "invention of revenue from dividends," Augustin stated that "there is no change from the point of view of normality" and justified that the Sovereign Fund was only used due to the need to compensate states and municipalities. "It has nothing to do with the Central Government," he said.
Augustin also believes that the measure does not cause fiscal policy to lose credibility and that there are no "important members" of the government who have criticized the measure. He argues that the operation "does not alter anything" in the 2013 fiscal year. When asked if the macroeconomic tripod had not been shaken by the operation, the secretary stated: "Analysts who see this should pay more attention to the yield curve and do their own analysis."