Guedes joins the chloroquine lobby and says: those who want to take it, take it; those who don't want to, don't.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Economy Minister Paulo Guedes stated that ministerial changes are normal in a democracy, defended the freedom to choose whether or not to use chloroquine in the treatment of coronavirus, and strongly appealed for a veto on the possibility of salary adjustments for certain categories of public servants.

Speaking this Friday at an event marking 500 days of Jair Bolsonaro's government, the minister also stated that the president is not populist, but popular, and that the fact that he has drawn attention to the economic consequences of social isolation measures does not mean that he is minimizing the importance of health and life.

"A large part of the differences of opinion between the president and ministers that I have seen is due to principles," said Guedes, giving the example that Bolsonaro is in favor of the right of a citizen who does not have Covid-19 to walk around in the street.

"It's his right to be infected because he's not infecting anyone. It's his right. This sometimes contrasts with someone who says 'no, he has to stay in isolation and can't go out'. This creates a serious difference of opinion between a minister and a president," he added.

Guedes then assessed that the use or non-use of chloroquine follows the same reasoning.

“Some say you have to take it, some say you don’t. Let’s do this: whoever wants to take it, takes it; whoever doesn’t want to, doesn’t. If we at least respect each other’s opinions, maybe we can improve things.”

Earlier, Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned from his post, less than a month after taking office, due to disagreements with the president, marking the second change of leadership at the ministry amid the advance of the new coronavirus pandemic across the country.

Teich had been pressured by the president to modify the official protocol to broaden the recommendation for the use of chloroquine, despite the minister having stated that he does not consider the drug a solution and having warned about its side effects.

When questioned about the market impact of the frequent cabinet reshuffle amidst the pandemic, Guedes said that replacements are normal in a democracy and that the conditions for creating a good environment to attract investments will be provided by a commitment to reforms, regardless of who occupies positions in the government.

The minister also pointed out that it would be abnormal for a president to resign because a minister wants to do something he doesn't want to do.

"Economic agents react to the configuration of economic policy," the minister stated.

"If the president stays on course, he can change the Minister of Economy as many times as he wants, but if he goes off course, he can appoint any minister he wants and it will all go wrong," he added.

VETO

In his speech, Guedes strongly defended the need to veto, in the aid bill for states and municipalities, a section that allows some categories of public servants to receive salary adjustments until the end of next year. The minister has always insisted that freezing salaries was a reasonable counterpart to the injection of federal funds to governors and mayors.

Regarding the government's rapprochement with centrist parliamentarians, the Minister of Economy said that the relationship is not based on a quid pro quo.

"We have a programmatic, not a patronage-based, democratic center," he stated.

Guedes also argued that it is pointless for the president to veto the section of the bill, as publicly promised, if Congress acts to overturn that decision. He stressed that, in that scenario, the chaos of high interest rates, economic disorganization, and the transformation of the situation into an electoral spree would return.

Continuing in this vein, the minister requested that healthcare funds remain allocated to healthcare and described as unacceptable the use of the coronavirus crisis for political showmanship or to divert resources from the government.

“We spent a year and a half trying to rebuild. When we are starting to take off, we are hit by a pandemic. And are we going to take advantage of a moment like this, of the utmost gravity, of a health crisis, and are we going to climb over corpses to make a political platform?”, he stated.

"Are we going to climb over corpses to extract resources from the government? That's unacceptable, the population won't accept it. The population will punish those who use corpses as a political platform," he added.

The minister also stated that professionals who continue working on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus should not be rewarded in advance for performing their duties.

As approved by Congress, the aid bill for states and municipalities excluded from the 18-month salary freeze rule healthcare professionals, public safety personnel, and members of the Armed Forces, as well as public education workers, forensic career employees, Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, municipal guards, socio-educational agents, urban cleaning professionals, funeral service workers, and social assistance workers.

"We want to know what sacrifices we can make for Brazil at this time, not what Brazil can do for us," the minister stated.

“And medals are given after the war, not before the war. Our heroes are not mercenaries. What kind of story is this about asking for a salary increase because a police officer goes out on the street to perform their duty? Or because a doctor goes out on the street to perform their duty? If they work more, because of the coronavirus, great, they get overtime pay,” Guedes added.

POST-PANDEMIC

Regarding the economic recovery, the minister reiterated that the country could experience a V-shaped recovery, despite his economic team having indicated this week an expectation of a slower, U-shaped trajectory. This is because the projection is for a historic GDP drop of 4,7% this year, with a return to pre-crisis levels only in 2022.

Guedes reiterated his appeal for the approval of bills such as the new sanitation framework, which has been in Congress since last year, as well as the privatization of Eletrobras, the framework for the electricity sector, and tax reform.

He further stated that the health crisis will make it even more obvious that the payroll tax for companies is a perverse form of taxation because it significantly increases the cost of formal employment.

"We have to eliminate that, we have to create the green and yellow work card, it doesn't have the labor charges there, we're going to create millions of jobs," he said.