Ministry of Economy points out that the industrial and services sector has already begun to feel the impact of the advance of the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil.
According to the special secretary for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, Carlos da Costa, Carlos da Costa in a statement to Estadão / Broadcast, Brazil is already feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Costa said that the government has already identified certain isolated effects of the pandemic on the industrial and services sectors. There is starting to be a retraction in the level of these activities.
“From next week, we will have an information service. For the time being, we have identified isolated effects in some sectors of industry and services, but in the short term the greatest impact is on the airline and event sectors”, said the secretary.
Sectors such as air travel have many costs linked to the dollar, which this year has already risen by 20% and in the last trading session closed quoted at R$ 4.8163, setting a record. The events sector has also felt the pressure in the face of the Ministry of Health's recommendations for the population to avoid agglomerations. Capitals like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have already restricted events with large numbers of people.
Other consequences of the pandemic
Due to the advance of the coronavirus, the GDP has already had its growth projection changed by the banks. The predictions are that it will not exceed 1.5% this year. The Ministry of Economy itself changed its estimate, from 2.4% to 2.1% – still being higher than the market.
The secretariat is monitoring those who suffered the impact of the crisis in the production sector. This has been done since Carnival and has supported discussions in the newly created monitoring committee at the Ministry. According to Costa, the secretariat tries to act “with serenity and maximum agility”, keeping in touch with all the associations and confederations of the productive sector. "We are working on measures that guarantee the minimum impact on our production and employment", he said, without anticipating what those actions would be.
The Ministry of Economy, last Thursday (12), announced the first measures to combat the impacts of the new coronavirus in the country. One of the measures is the anticipation of 50% from the 13th of INSS retirees and pensioners for the month of April, with an injection of R$ 23 billion into the economy. Also on the list is the reduction in interest rates on payroll loans for this public.
The government is going to propose to Congress the expansion of the benefit margin that can be compromised with a payroll deduction. It is currently at 30% for loans and 5% for credit cards.
In the health sector, the government will exempt import tariffs on some medical and hospital products. These purchases will also have facilities before the bureaucracy to enter the country. Customers are being communicated by public banks, the existence of lines of credit to provide working capital in times of eventual difficulty. The source of the information is from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
