Paulo Picchetti: ‘Scenario is more complicated than in other crises’ – ISTOÉ DINHEIRO

Economist Paulo Picchetti, a researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Economics at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (Ibre-FGV) and professor at the School of Economics at FGV-SP, considers the current scenario of Brazilian inflation to be more complicated since the stabilization of the economy in July 1994 , with the edition of Plano Real.

Since then, he points out two critical moments of inflation acceleration: in 2003, with the crisis of expectations, when the dollar reached R$ 4, and in 2014, with tariff readjustments. In both moments, the scenario was more easily reversed because the Brazilian economy was coming from a period of expansion. Today, however, the space for fiscal policy adjustment exists, but it is smaller. “We have had the economy side by side for a long time. This reduces the degrees of freedom, on the one hand, to stimulate the economy and, on the other, to fight inflation.” Below are the main excerpts from the interview.