Keeping aid of R$ 600 in 2023 is a ‘challenge’, says Secretary of the Treasury

Secretary estimated spending between BRL 50 billion and BRL 60 billion

After the President’s Promise Jair Bolsonaro to, if elected, maintain the Brazil aid at R$ 600, the special secretary of the Treasury and Budget, Esteves Colnago, said that it will be a “considerable challenge” to accommodate this increase in spending in the 2023 Budget.

One of the problems is that discretionary (non-mandatory) expenses are estimated at between R$120 billion and R$130 billion per year. Colnago, who was once Minister of Planning and has been part of the team of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, since the beginning of the government, defended the maintenance of the spending ceiling, a rule that limits the growth of expenses to the variation of inflation.

He confirmed that the 2023 Budget project, the first of the next government, will be delivered in August, taking into account the amount of aid at R$ 400, as Estadão showed last Thursday, 21. “It is the ceiling that is allowing us to move towards a surplus result at the expense of all aid”, he said.

The secretary estimated expenditures between R$50 billion and R$60 billion. But even that prediction is conservative. In order to guarantee the increase from R$400 to R$600 by the end of the year, the constitutional amendment called PEC Kamikaze set an expense of R$26 billion in five months. In 12 months, this expense represents, in practice, an additional cost of R$ 62.4 billion, which is added to the budget of R$ 89 billion planned for this year with the aid of R$ 400.

In the full year, the cost in 2023 could rise to R$ 151.4 billion. This is a fiscal situation that the government’s own technicians believe does not fit within the current model’s spending ceiling. In addition to Bolsonaro, presidential candidates Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Ciro Gomes (PDT) have already said that, if elected, they will end the ceiling.

With little time until the October elections, the government announced that on August 9, the payment of R$ 600 of the Auxílio Brasil and the truck allowance will begin, which must have two installments of R$ 1,000 paid on the same day.

The Ministry of Citizenship anticipated the payment schedule for Auxílio Brasil benefits for the month of August. According to the normative instruction published in the Official Gazette (DOU) yesterday, the installments will be paid from the 9th of the month, depending on the beneficiary’s Social Identification Number (NIS) (see table). Prior to the change, payments would be made on the last ten business days of each month (the 18th). The calendar for the rest of the year has not changed.

trucker bag

The measure was officially named Emergency Benefit for Autonomous Cargo Transporters (BEm Trucker) and, according to government accounts, should benefit around 900,000 autonomous cargo transporters, in order to mitigate the impact of high fuel prices (in especially that of diesel oil).

The truck drivers’ registration information was passed on by the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) and is already being processed by Dataprev to allow payment to those eligible. Details on the payment of the benefit will soon be regulated by means of an ordinance.

taxi driver

In the case of taxi drivers, since this Monday, the 25th, mayors can send registration information. The system will be open to receive entries until July 31. Those who, eventually, have not yet received the communication from the ministry can also access the system to send the information. The submission of taxi drivers’ records by city halls is necessary due to the municipal or district competence on the subject. The registered data will be processed by Dataprev.

Taxi drivers with a valid National Driver’s License and license in force on May 31, 2022 will be considered. The value and number of benefit installments may be adjusted according to the number of registered beneficiaries, respecting the global limit available. for the payment of the aid, provided for in the amendment.

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