Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro have intensified their efforts to win support from the country’s business community as the 2026 election approaches and fiscal policy becomes a central concern.
Lula, the Workers’ Party (PT) leader seeking reelection, hosted a select group of executives at the Alvorada Palace, the official presidential residence in Brasília, on Monday, August 31. The guests included Joesley and Wesley Batista of meatpacking company JBS, Luiz Carlos Trabuco of Bradesco, André Esteves of BTG, Rubens Ometto of Cosan and José Seripieri of health insurer Amil.
The dinner lasted almost three hours. Participants discussed how to restore fiscal balance, interest rates and Brazil’s relationship with the United States and President Donald Trump, according to CNN Brasil’s single-source reporting. Lula opened the meeting, listened to the executives’ comments and spoke again at the end.
Lula’s Outreach
Lula is also considering a broader meeting with the private sector: a conference for about 200 executives and investors in São Paulo in September. The event is being organized with the Prerrogativas group, led by lawyer Marco Aurélio de Carvalho, and Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Márcio Elias Rosa.
The initiatives followed a meeting between Flávio Bolsonaro and bankers in São Paulo’s Faria Lima financial district on August 27. The gathering took place at the home of Marcelo Kayath, a former head of Credit Suisse in Brazil who is now a partner at investment manager QMS.
Flávio, the Liberal Party (PL) candidate and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, sought to present himself as willing to overhaul public finances if elected. His proposed economic agenda would combine spending cuts, a review of the federal government’s structure and changes to Brazil’s current fiscal framework, the rules that set limits for public spending and debt.
His campaign has begun publicizing economic advisers with experience in the previous Bolsonaro administration, including Daniella Marques, former head of Caixa Econômica Federal, and Adolfo Sachsida, a former minister of Mines and Energy. They are expected to help develop and explain Flávio’s economic proposals during the campaign.
Market Skepticism
Business leaders and investors remain doubtful that either candidate could deliver a meaningful fiscal adjustment in 2027. They question Lula’s record of spending during his third presidential term and point to his statements that public debt does not concern him.
Market participants also say Lula has shown reluctance toward politically difficult measures, including removing the constitutional linkage between health and education funding and government revenue, as well as ending the automatic adjustment of social-security and welfare benefits to the minimum wage. A federal spending-cut package proposed at the end of 2024 was significantly reduced during negotiations in Congress.
Flávio’s proposals face their own uncertainties. Daniella Marques has said it would be possible to cut spending equivalent to 1.5% of gross domestic product, reduce the administrative apparatus and replace the current fiscal framework with rules imposing tighter controls on debt and expenditure. Flávio has promised a major spending reduction but acknowledges that several measures would require approval from Brazil’s National Congress.
He has also emphasized the need for a legislature aligned with the executive branch. At the same time, the candidate has rejected cuts that would harm poorer Brazilians or minimum-wage recipients, leaving questions about the scale and composition of any adjustment.