“Brazil has no money to buy jet fighters” in 2011 confirms top official
The Brazilian government has “no money to buy jet fighters” in 2011 confirmed Finance minister Guido Mantega in reference to the tender for the purchase of at least 36 modern aircraft and for which France, United States and Sweden are competing.
“We have no available funds and there’s no fiscal space”, therefore it is most “improbable” that the operation would be concluded this year said Mantega during a press conference Monday when he explained the reasons behind the recently announced cuts to the 2011 federal budget.
The pruning was anticipated in mid February and totals 50 billion Real equivalent to 30 billion US dollars on an annual budget of 1.24 trillion US dollars.
The original defence budget for this year was 15 billion Real (8.8 billion USD) but following the latest cuts it will be reduced to 11 billion Real (6.5 billion USD), which will force a review of all pending military hardware purchase including the Air Force fighters.
The tender is for 36 fighter-bombers and competitors are France’s Dassalut Rafale, the US Boeing Super Hornet F/A 18 and Sweden’s Saab Gripen.
“We are forecasting the Brazilian economy will expand 5% this year which is reasonable and appropriate to avoid over heating problems”, said Mantega.
He added that the 7.5% of last year represented an “excessive acceleration of the economy”, which is to be controlled with the budget cuts announced for this year.
Mantega said that a reduced budget will help control the rate of growth, which at 5% is “manageable and sustainable”.
However the minister insisted that budget cuts do not mean a lesser intervention of the state in the economy or a change in the policies applied in the last eight years bur rather “adapting to the current moment the country is going through”.
Mantega recalled that Brazil implemented a significant stimulus plan for the economy in 2008 with the purpose of diluting the impact of the global financial crisis.
“But those effects in Brazil have been controlled and therefore the additional government boost is no longer needed, and will be diminished through the budget trimming”.
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Delay this deal as much as possible and then cancel it :-)))
Delay this deal as much as possible and then cancel it :-)))
Agree, though they won't cancel it, but if you can't buy it now, just wait, chill, and control your budget. Obama will lower the price eventually. It's clear, the Brazilians want the whole deal for less money, and they might get what they want.
@Think
Why is that?
I cannot find anything of this in the Brazilian media than that they prefer the F-18.
Think want's Brazil to cancel it, because it seems he envy's your nation that wants to renew it's fleet while his nation isn't capable of doing that.
As for Think, he's not envious of anything; I believe he's a well-intentioned, but naive, dove who thinks that peace can be ultimately achieved by cutting defense spending (the reverse is true; by not investing in the military, a country only makes itself more vulnerable to abuse by foreign powers).
(wikileaks) cables, the Brazilian Airforce wants the F18 or the Swedish Gripen. But again, those are words out of US officials.
As for Think not being envious of anything: I do not see that by reading his comments in mercopress when it comes to weapons buildup in your country, but again maybe I do miss interpreted his comments, though Argentinians have a history of being envious of their neighbors.
This way there may be sufficient money in the pot to pay for:
1. the new top salaries of our leaders,
2. their pensions and
3. the salaries and pensions of the greatly expanded administration,
4. the ever expanding Bolsa Familia,
5....... and perhaps a little left over to mend a few holes in the roads.
Oh, sorry, I forgot ......
6. and Education of the other 2/3 of our people.
Dear friend, what is whine to one is champagne to another.
As a larger nation i can see why the airforce would prefer more F-18/Grippens over the Rafale. Also both of the other jets have been exported in the past while the french jet has failed to do so. Though i still don't get why the Rafale has failed to get any exports so far seems like a very good jet has been the only jet that(in mockups) has stood up well versus the Typhoon, Apart from the Raptor because the US wont let anyone mock fight the Raptor(Personally, im not sure if it's as good as they make out. They said it was impossible to track it on radar, a Typhoon pilot said he caught one on radar but the US denied it).
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