The Ministry of Economy released a note this Sunday (11) to refute what it classified as “unfounded statements” about the national economic scenario, citing that the State’s public accounts would not be “broken” and that there will be a fall in the country’s debt.
Last week, the Planning, Budget and Management technical group of the transition team of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government made a rather harsh diagnosis of the federal government’s accounts.
“The diagnosis that is becoming clear to the transitional government is that the Bolsonaro government has broken the Brazilian state. Essential services are either already paralyzed or are at great risk of being totally compromised”, said the coordinator of the technical groups, former minister Aloizio Mercadante .
In this Sunday’s statement, the Ministry of Economy seeks to counteract the criticisms made and points out that the general government’s gross debt should end the year representing 74% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), with a primary surplus of R$ 23.4 billion, the first since 2013, according to the Primary Revenue and Expenditure Assessment Report.
“It will be the first government to end its mandate with falling debt: in 2018, the debt/GDP ratio reached 75.3%,” the ministry said in the statement.
Total commitments owed by Brazil to international financial organizations and institutions should add up to US$ 1.23 billion (R$ 6.4 billion) in 2023. According to the ministry, the amount is almost 20% less than the total of US$ 1.52 billion owed in the year 2016.
“It is important to consider that, for 2022, the government had reserved in the PLOA (Annual Budget Law Project) the amount of BRL 2 billion for payment of commitments with international financial organizations and institutions, but the amount was reduced by the National Congress to 907 million reais, which made it impossible to further reduce liabilities”, said the folder.
The government highlighted the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the salary adjustment plans of public servants, whose payment of the last installment took place in 2019.
The folder said that the policies adopted to maintain jobs and financial aid to the population prevented the approval of readjustments to public servants until the end of 2021.
For 2023, however, the Budget Bill sent to Congress provided R$ 10.5 billion for readjustments of public servants of the Executive Branch. The amount would correspond, linearly, to approximately 5% of salary adjustment.
Despite the scenario mentioned by the ministry, the general rapporteur for the Budget for 2023, senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), and others have repeatedly pointed out the lack of resources for a series of programs in the forecast of expenses for next year.
In this sense, Lula works for the approval of the Transition PEC in the Chamber of Deputies, after winning the Senate, to expand for two years the spending ceiling by R$ 145 billion for the payment of the Brazil Aid —which will once again be called Bolsa Família— BRL 600 and allow a recomposition in other points of the 2023 Budget.
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