Brazil's Lula: Fiscal responsibility crucial but must also spend to improve country

Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that fiscal responsibility was crucial but that spending to improve the country's economy and welfare was equally important.

"We know we have to be fiscally responsible," Lula said at an event in Portugal's capital Lisbon. "We cannot spend more than we earn...but we also know we can spend to do something profitable, to make the country grow, to improve (it)."