Lula says he wants Brazil to have a standard of living equal to Sweden and Germany, not Cuba | Politics

Lula, an ally of the Cuban government who has good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said he intends to turn Brazil into a middle-class country.

“This country can become a middle-class country. Do you think I want a country like Russia? Do you think I want a country like Cuba? I want a country with a standard of living like Sweden, Denmark and Germany. This is the country I dream about,” Lula said.

Denmark (5th), Sweden (6th) and Germany (7th) are among the top countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), issued by the United Nations.

The Human Development Index measures data such as life expectancy, income and education of a population based on an index ranging from 0 to 1 – the closer to 1, the better. The data collected to prepare the 2024 ranking dates back to 2022, under the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Brazil fell two places in this year’s update. The country began to occupy this position 89 From the listWhich includes 193 countries. Brazil comes behind Russia (ranked 56th) and Cuba (ranked 85th) in the UN ranking.

Regarding the country’s economic direction, Lula said Brazil’s public debt is “small change” compared to that of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, Italy and France.

“Let’s stop looking at the Brazilian public debt with fear. The Brazilian public debt compared to the public debt of the United States, compared to Japan, compared to Italy, compared to France, is not a debt, it is a very small change compared to others,” he said.

“When I finished the interview, the headline from some commentators was that the dollar went up because of Lula’s interview,” he declared. “And the idiots didn’t realize that the dollar went up 15 minutes before I did the interview. Fifteen minutes ago.”