RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday, January 28th, that the extension of emergency aid would bankrupt Brazil and lead to a series of other disastrous consequences, at a time when the main candidates for the Chamber and Senate presidencies are calling for a debate on some kind of assistance for people left without income during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
During his weekly live stream, Bolsonaro again lamented the deaths and infections caused by the disease, but said that “we have to live with” Covid and that jobs must not be “destroyed”. He once again emphasized that the country’s debt capacity is at its limit.
“I’m sorry, people, you want emergency aid to continue, but it will bankrupt Brazil, inflation will come, the economy will get out of control, it will be a disaster and everyone will pay dearly,” he said.
A potential reestablishment of the emergency aid that ended in December has been the subject of debate by candidates to the command of the two legislative houses and should be back on the political agenda when legislators return to work next week.
Bolsonaro again criticized restrictions on the movement of people and on the operation of establishments imposed by governors and mayors aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus.
And once again, the President championed the early treatment of patients with the use of drugs with no scientific evidence of their efficacy.