By the accounts of former finance minister Henrique Meirelles, who led the creation of the spending cap in 2016, the PEC that institutes a state of emergency to release billions in benefits before the election should not help Bolsonaro win many points with the electorate.
In his opinion, the effect will be small because the maneuver generates inflation and mistrust.
“Inflation causes erosion in the eventual gain of those people who receive the aid and also in the income of those who do not receive the aid”, he says.
For Meirelles, there is no more time for what should have been done.
“If the government wants to spend a little more, whether on social expenditures or on infrastructure, which is not the case, the solution is very simple. It does the administrative reform, cuts what will substantially reduce the cost of the machine, faces this problem , and opens up space on the roof. It also carries out a broad, serious tax reform”, he says.
According to him, whoever wins the election will find it difficult to manage the country next year. “The economy will suffer from this issue, this fiscal mistrust, this problem of circumventing the ceiling. Extra expenses were made for the pandemic, but this is not the case today”, he says.
Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Gilmara Santos
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