The Brazilian civil construction segment is concerned the recent accusations involving president Michel Temer could compromise the austerity and social security reforms proposed by the Brazilian leader.
Currently, Michel Temer and his team are trying to approve a pension reform bill in the lower house of Congress, as a way to reduce the country’s public deficit.
The local civil construction segment, a major consumer of steel in the country, supports the proposed reforms, but thinks it is too early to evaluate the impact the corruption scandal involving the Brazilian president may have in the local civil construction sector, as it tries to resume growth.
Temer was secretly taped by a JBS executive on conversations that went public this week and are currently being analyzed by the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice.
The JBS chairman, Joesley Batista, used the tape as a way to gather evidence the Brazilian president supported corruption. Batista claimed Temer approved a payoff for a once powerful politician, who is now in jail, to remain silent and avoid involving other politicians, including Temer himself.
SteelOrbis analyzed the tape, and found the president was not surprised to learn JBS was lobbying other politicians. The tapes also revealed inside information from secret, ongoing corruption investigations involving politicians and several businessmen.
“We have to pressure the lower house of Congress to continue its reforms’ schedule until we solve this political issue,” Jose Carlos Martins, the president of the Brazilian Chamber of Civil Construction, told Reuters in an interview.
Martins said the accusations from Batista should not delay advanced negotiations involving the civil construction sector’s interests and the Brazilian government.
“It will be really sad and revolting to see a political crisis retract even more the return of investments, which are needed to the generation of jobs and come from this and other segments,” the president of Sao Paulo state civil construction union, SindusCon-SP, commented in a document released by the entity this week.