Singer: Davos demands that Dilma kiss the cross.

247 - Will President Dilma Rousseff kiss the cross? This is the question raised by André Singer in his article "The Pilgrimage to Davos" (read here). 

"Dilma Rousseff's trip to the World Economic Forum is part of an arduous journey, a kind of Camino de Santiago, that the president feels compelled to undertake to obtain absolution from the wealthy. For a year, the government has been trying, unsuccessfully, to show the financial market that it has given up on the developmentalist "adventure" and wishes to restore the "status quo ante." Now, by personally climbing the steep mountain of Davos, Dilma is paying another piece of the long penance. In the half hour she was given to confess, she deposited the usual offerings on the altar of finance. She guaranteed that she is seeking the Holy Grail of the inflation target center, hinted at a high surplus to be announced soon, and called the exchange rate float nothing less than our first line of defense," he said.

Singer states, however, that the president is somewhat hesitant to embrace so-called economic orthodoxy. "Dilma has refused to kiss the cross, trying, through real concessions and homeopathic symbolism, to convince her former adversaries that she is trustworthy without paying the price of abandoning past commitments. But the promises of fiscal restraint made at the Davos pilgrimage, which becomes a sensitive point when interest rates rise because the money has to come from somewhere, will soon be demanded. As early as February, the market will demand a robust primary surplus and a similar contingency plan to guarantee it. Just wait."