Lula targets indebted women and designs program to renegotiate debts with electricity and water

The campaign of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) elaborates a specific program to enable the debt renegotiation of low-income families and part of the middle class.

The current draft provides for the renegotiation of debts outside the banking system, such as electricity, water and food bills. The intended audience is families that receive up to three minimum wages (the equivalent of R$3,636 today).

The idea is to discuss the program model with the financial system and form partnerships with Serasa and SPC. The initiative must be taken to the candidate’s television advertising at some point in the campaign.

The name “Desenrola” is being tested by Lula’s communication team through research, but the hammer will still be beaten by the campaign team and the former president. The details of the proposal are still being worked out.

Lula introduced the theme in an interview with Jornal Nacional on Thursday night (25th) and gave an idea of ​​the design.

“We have almost 70% of Brazilian families in debt, and the vast majority of them are women, 22% are in debt because they cannot pay the water bill, the electricity bill, the gas bill. We are going to negotiate this debt. that we are going to negotiate with the private sector and the financial system”, said the former president.

If the former president attends the debate promoted in a pool by SheetUOL and TVs Bandeirantes e Cultura, on Sunday (28), there is an expectation that he will present more details of the proposal.

Members of Lula’s campaign hope to signal to two important audiences with the proposal. One of them is women, the most indebted part of the population.

In addition, the team assesses that it is possible to reach voters of Ciro Gomes (PDT), who is in third place in polls of voting intentions. The pedestrian maintains in his program a proposal presented in the 2018 campaign to remove 66 million Brazilians from the SPC.

Research released this month by the CNC (National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism) shows that the indebtedness and default of Brazilian families rose again and hit a record in July.

According to the survey, 78% of Brazilian families are in debt, and 29% are in arrears. The numbers are the highest since the survey began in 2010.

The research also shows that women not only have the highest level of indebtedness, but have also seen this level increase in recent months.

According to CNC, 80.6% of the female public reported, in July, having debts between credit cards, overdrafts, personal or payroll-deductible credit, booklets, car or property financing, or other debts. In June, this percentage was 80.1%.

Among men, the share of indebted is a little smaller, although it also increased at the end of the month. The percentage went from 76.5% in June to 77.5% in July.

Before Lula’s interview with Jornal Nacional, economist Guilherme Mello, coordinator of the NAPP (Public Policy Monitoring Nucleus) at the Perseu Abramo Foundation and who has collaborated in the elaboration of the PT program, told Sheet that the high level of household indebtedness is an obstacle to the reactivation of consumption, considered an engine for income generation.

“It is a topic that will certainly appear in a debate soon, but we still don’t have it closed”, said Mello, without giving details of the measure.

“The important thing is that this is a problem to be faced. It is evident that, with families and small companies deeply indebted, there is a great difficulty in reactivating the consumer market and income generation. All income that comes in goes out to pay debt,” he said.

The economist considers that household debt is not concentrated in a single type of debt, which will require a policy discussion for each of the segments. “People have debts with banks, in credit cards, overdrafts, personal credit. There are people’s debts with public energy companies, in stores,” he said.

Lula is not the only one to promise a solution to the indebtedness of Brazilian families. Also in an interview with Jornal Nacional, Ciro Gomes renewed the promise made four years ago and proposed creating an “anti-grant law”, through which the citizen who paid the equivalent of twice his debt would have his debt settled.

In practice, the proposal could mean a tabulation of interest charged on credit operations, although Ciro has not detailed his idea, presented in the final minute of the hearing.

This Friday (26), in a post on Twitter, the pedestrian accused Lula of “copying” his campaign’s proposal to clear the name of Brazilians from the SPC/Serasa. In 2018, Ciro proposed a renegotiation of debts of families and companies, with lower interest rates and longer payment terms. At the time, the program was called Nome Limpo.

In second place in the voting intention polls, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) sanctioned a forgiveness of up to 99% of student debts in Fies (Student Financing Fund).

The text prioritized students enrolled in CadÚnico (Single Registry for Social Programs of the Federal Government) or benefited by emergency aid in contemplating the maximum forgiveness of the amount due. At the time of the proposal, in February, Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) estimated that 1.2 million people could benefit from the renegotiation of up to R$ 38.6 billion in debts.

The measure was first mentioned by Bolsonaro in a broadcast on social media on December 9, 2021. A week earlier, Lula had said on the Podpah podcast that it was necessary to “amnesty the boys” of Fies.

In addition to the forgiveness of students, the current government bet on a new round of extraordinary withdrawals from the FGTS (Fundo de Garantia por Tempo de Serviço) to help families pay off debts.

According to the latest Datafolha poll, Lula remains in first place in the presidential race, with 47% of intentions in the first round, and Bolsonaro remains in second place, with 32%.

Former minister Ciro Gomes (PDT) follows, with 7%. Senator Simone Tebet (MDB) appears in fourth place, with 2%.

Among those who vote for Ciro, however, 64% can still change candidates, and 35% say they are fully decided.