The Ministry of Citizenship published this Wednesday (20) an ordinance that regulates the additional R$ 200 from Auxílio Brasil. According to the text published in the Official Gazette of the Union, the payment of the boosted benefit will be made from August to December this year.
The ordinance provides that the beneficiary will receive the aid of R$ 600 “on the date foreseen in the program’s payment schedule” and does not mention a change in the schedule, although the government intends to bring forward the payment to the first half of August.
The government’s idea is to start on the 9th the transfer of the social benefits provided for in the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) approved by Congress.
Minister Ronaldo Vieira Bento (Citizenship) argues that, if this is possible, the payment schedule for Auxílio Brasil should then be brought forward permanently to the first fortnight of each month.
In the current calendar, Auxílio Brasil deposits are made according to the end of the NIS (Social Identification Number) of the citizen registered in CadÚnico (Cadastro Único) and are paid monthly between the 18th and 31st.
Also according to the ordinance, the increase of R$ 200 will not be considered for the purpose of calculating the value of any retroactive installments of the program.
In addition to the expansion of Auxílio Brasil, the publication establishes that families will receive Auxílio Gás with a complementary value of 50% of the average price of a gas cylinder in the country, totaling 100%, in the months of August, October and December.
In June, 5.7 million low-income families received a R$53 gas voucher. The forecast is that three installments of R$120 will now be paid, as the benefit is bimonthly.
As they are already existing programs, Auxílio Brasil and Auxílio Gás depend only on the issue of MP (provisional measure) for the release of extraordinary credit. The ordinance published this Wednesday is a formality and does not provide additional information to what had been previously disclosed.
The additional R$ 500 million in the budget of the Alimenta Brasil program, which finances the purchase of food from family farmers for donation, is also exempt from federal regulation.
The rules for truck driver assistance and taxi driver assistance still need to be outlined. Last Friday (15), the Ministry of Labor and Welfare reported that it plans to pay two installments of aid in the first half of August, two months before the elections.
According to the ministry, the truck drivers’ data were passed on by the ANTT (National Land Transport Agency) of the Ministry of Infrastructure and are being checked so that the payments of the R$ 1,000 voucher are made to the beneficiaries.
The release of aid to taxi drivers, in turn, depends on information provided by the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities. According to the Ministry of Labor, “there will be a request to the municipalities for the databases of professionals who have documents of permission to provide the service by the municipal government.”
The amount allocated to taxi drivers registered until May 31, 2022 is yet to be defined. The Ministry of Citizenship even informed that the amount would be R$ 200, but the benefit can rise to R$ 300 per installment. The invoice limit established by the constitutional amendment is R$ 2 billion.
The government-planned expansion of social benefits could send money to more than 8 million people who currently do not have access to payments. The total estimated cost of the social benefits package is R$41.25 billion.
The package has the potential to boost the popularity of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the dispute for the Planalto with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Currently, it appears in second place in the polls.
According to June’s Datafolha, Lula has a 19-point advantage over Bolsonaro, marking 47% of voting intentions in the first round. The PT achieves 59% of voting intentions among those who receive Auxílio Brasil, while the current head of the Executive has 22%.
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