Government raises budget cut to R$ 13.5 billion to increase civil servants

The government will increase the size of this year’s budget cut to accommodate a readjustment for federal servants. After the announcement last week of a scissor of R$8.2 billion, the value should rise to R$13.5 billion.

The folders most affected by the blockade of resources should be Education, Science and Technology and Health.

The larger-than-expected cut comes after President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) announced that, although there are studies to privilege police officers with differentiated increases, the government’s tendency is to grant a 5% readjustment to public servants this year.

“There are criticisms and threat of strike from other sectors, as varied as possible. [Então] what’s the trend? It’s 5% for everyone,” Bolsonaro said.

The technicians decided to make a preventive block of another R$ 5.3 billion to accommodate the salary increases. The values ​​have not yet been officially released and may still undergo changes until the decree on the subject is published in the Official Gazette of the Union, which is scheduled for the next few days.

The amount is enough to accommodate the additional cost of BRL 4.6 billion to fund the 5% linear adjustment to civil servants — the total increase has an impact of BRL 6.3 billion for the Executive Branch, but there is already a reserve of R$ 1.7 billion foreseen in the Budget.

Although the technicians understand that the government can forward the readjustment projects without having the money reserved in the Budget, leaving the new cut for July could make the task of reallocating resources even more difficult. This is because in the middle of the year, the execution of the ministries’ expenses is already at a more advanced stage.

The cut will not spare the Ministry of Education, which will receive a scissor of R$ 3.2 billion. The blockade also affects all bodies linked to the portfolio, such as federal institutes and universities.

The Science and Technology portfolio should also be hit. The CNI (National Confederation of Industry) released a note protesting against the cut of R$ 2.9 billion in the area, calling the decision wrong.

The CNI also says that the cut is illegal because it contradicts the provisions of Complementary Law 177/2021, which prohibits the contingency of resources from the FNDCT (source of funding for science, technology and innovation). “This resource is stamped and cannot be blocked by the government with the pretext of not exceeding the public spending ceiling”, says the entity.

The Ministry of Health should suffer a scissor of R$ 2.5 billion.