SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is leading polls ahead of the October election, said on Wednesday that reducing poverty and inequality must be Brazil’s priority over fiscal discipline.
Speaking at a news conference, Lula said budget resources must be increased on social programs even if that means sacrificing a constitutionally-mandated spending ceiling.
“We have to make inequality a priority and not the spending cap,” he told reporters of independent websites.
“Brazil has to put the poor back in the budget and tax the rich,” he said, referring to his Workers Party support for taxing corporate profit and dividends.
Lula, 76, governed Brazil from 2003-2010 and his government’s social programs pulled millions of Brazilians from poverty. He spent time in jail on corruption charges hat were later annulled, allowing him to run for office again.
He is expected to face far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential race this year, though neither man has formally declared his candidacy.
His clear lead in early polls has investors worried that the return of Lula will deepen Brazil’s budget deficit.
Lula is considering former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin as his running mate, in an effort to draw moderate voters and calm financial markets.
“I cannot want to be president to solve the financial system’s problem … to solve the those who became richer in the pandemic,” he said. “There is only one reason for me to be a candidate: to prove the Brazilian people can be happy again.”
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Eduardo Simoes; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
