Government studies readjustment for servers in 2023 using next year’s inflation

The government plans to send Congress this month a proposed 2023 Budget with a reserve for readjusting civil servants. The idea under study is to consider next year’s inflation for the value.

According to calculations frequently mentioned by the government, each 1 percentage point of linear adjustment for all federal servants means an approximate increase of R$ 3 billion in Union expenses. As inflation for 2023 is projected by the market at 5.33%, this could represent an expansion of approximately R$ 16 billion in expenses for next year.

If the idea of ​​a readjustment with the inflation of 2023 goes ahead, the lack of readjustments for civil servants in recent years would be without compensation. The increases were impeded mainly by legal locks created by the government and Congress with the aim of offsetting the increase in spending and indebtedness of the Union in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.

Discussions continue and it is not yet ruled out that some careers can earn more than others, a privilege signaled this year by Bolsonaro (to please the police, for example) and which ended up not going forward. Larger readjustment plans for some categories generate reservations within the government due to the possible reaction of the others.

The new discussions on server readjustments take place on the eve of the electoral campaign. The amounts to be paid compete for space in the Budget with other expenses, such as Auxílio Brasil and the potential definitive increase of the program to R$ 600 from 2023 (currently, the rules only require that the R$ 600 be valid until December of this year and the forecast is that the value will drop to R$ 400 from January onwards).

The fight for space in the Budget happens because the government has less and less margin in the spending ceiling (a constitutional rule that prevents federal spending from growing beyond inflation). Any new expense makes it even harder to keep the numbers within the limit.

Discussions come back after many comings and goings on the subject in 2022. The government had set aside BRL 1.7 billion for career readjustments and salary increases in the federal civil service in this year’s Budget, but the amount was insufficient for a broad readjustment. for the servers.

Amid the diagnosis that a small increase for everyone could harm Bolsonaro’s image instead of benefiting, the government began to study alternatives. On the table, they ranged from the readjustment for just a few categories to an increase only in food stamps (which did not generate an increase for retired servers).

After many statements on the subject, however, Bolsonaro confirmed in June that there will be no readjustment for servers this year.

“Unfortunately, there is no readjustment for the server. We are trying now, which has to win electoral legislation, to double, at least, the value of food aid”, he told journalists in front of the Planalto Palace in June. He did not, however, detail how much the increase in the benefit would cost.

“I was scolded by other servers from other sectors, the public sector [falando] ‘ah, I’ll threaten to stop’. Several representatives. So I couldn’t proceed with the [reestruturação] of the Federal Highway Police, nor with that of Depen”, he said at the time.

Elite categories of the civil service had been threatening strikes, either to get themselves included in the increase, or because they considered the 5% studied by the government to be insufficient.

“You can imagine the Central Bank stopping there, stopping the CGU, stopping the Revenue, stopping the sanitary inspectors. Now, if someone points out where I can use resources, I’ll give an adjustment now, in 20%, 30%, 40% for the entire world. It is possible for next year, we are preparing”, he said at the time.