Auxílio Brasil represents an uncertain future on the island of Marajó

After spending the night in the hammock of a boat, Maria Raimunda do Nascimento, 55, landed in the municipality of Curralinho (PA) to make sure she would not have problems receiving the R$ 400 promised by the Bolsonaro government with the creation of Auxílio Brasil. The increase would be significant, since today it earns R$136.

It took about four hours to travel from Rio Piriá, where he lives, to the city. Without the Bolsa Família card to withdraw the benefit, Nascimento would have to use his RG, which, as it was crossed out, was not accepted at all branches. So she and her husband went into town to make sure the document wouldn’t be refused.

The trip, however, was lost. He would have to take out a new identity card, but the service would only be available in 2022. Outside the açaí harvest season, when the husband manages to earn some money by selling the fruits he harvests, they both depend on the program, hunting and fishing to feed.

“[A gente se mantém] in faith and in courage. Go, catch fish, but it becomes very difficult,” he says.

The expectation of around R$ 400 promised by Auxílio Brasil is a reality among Curralinho’s beneficiaries. While for many the increase will have little impact, residents and local businesses expect to see improvements in the population’s living conditions. On the other hand, uncertainty about the continuity of payment raises concerns.

The city of about 35 thousand inhabitants, located on the Island of Marajó, is marked by stilt houses, which, outside the central region of the municipality, blend in with the vegetation and waters of the Pará River. hours by boat.

Data from the Ministry of Citizenship show that 5,427 families were beneficiaries of Bolsa Família, which corresponds to 66% of the local population. Of these, 92% would be in extreme poverty if not for the program.

They continue, however, in a condition of poverty. In 2019, the per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the municipality was R$ 7,391.80, according to data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Statistical Geography). By way of comparison, the municipality with the highest value, São Paulo, reached R$ 62.3 thousand.​

According to the Ministry of Citizenship, the average Bolsa Família ticket was R$ 186.68 in October this year, the last month of the program’s validity.

Despite expectations regarding the increase, the Social Assistance secretary, Rithiane Freitas, claims that users were not adequately informed about the change in the program, while public servants received “confused” instructions about its operation.

With more than half of the city’s population dependent on the benefit, the secretary says that the point of greatest concern is about the continuity of the aid, since there is only a guarantee of payment of BRL 400 for 2022, when president Jair Bolsonaro (no party) will seek reelection.

With the enactment of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of the Precatório, which postpones the payment of federal debts recognized by the Courts and makes the new benefit amount viable until December of next year, the program became permanent.

“We feel instability with this new nomenclature, Auxílio Brasil. We feel that it can be unstable both for the families and for the municipality itself, because if there is no continuity with the program, the municipality will pay for it”, says the secretary.

The benefit for Marcilene Barbosa Pantoja, 30, went from R$357 to R$400 in November, when the program was instituted and payments increased slightly.

A solo mother of three children, Pantoja has no other source of income. Despite the expectation that she had nurtured around the increase in the benefit, she was barely able to feed herself and her children.

“You can’t get by, especially with three kids. Only [consigo comprar] food, electricity, gas, the basics”, he says.

The benefit for Maria de Lourdes Gomes de Freitas, 36, went from R$772 to R$882. Mother of nine, she lives only on what she earns from the program.

In a house on stilts on the banks of the Mucuta River, Freitas lives with her children, husband and other family members. I hoped that the program change would promote a greater increase for those with more dependents. Even with the addition, it still hasn’t reached its goal, which is to cook only with cooking gas, leaving aside the wood stove.

“I buy this money for my children. Things for me to eat, everything for home.

The income of most families comes mainly from the benefit, since açaí, which has its harvest between June and December, is what drives the local economy. The fruit guarantees the salaries of riverside dwellers during the period, who sell to intermediaries or companies that export or manufacture food or cosmetic products, for example.

For the rest of the year, they are dedicated to fishing or the production of manioc flour or tapioca. Many, however, do not have the resources to produce more than what is necessary to feed their family.

The low income of the local population added to the seasonality of açaí means that the increase promised by Auxílio Brasil brings the expectation of improvement in the living conditions of the city’s residents, assesses Danilo Araújo Fernandes, professor and coordinator of the graduate program in economics at UFPA (Federal University of Pará).

Income transfer programs are what guarantee the stability of riverside dwellers and, therefore, the increase has a significant impact on families and the municipality, explains the professor. As they live on the basis of the informal economy, the resources from these programs are the main drivers of local commerce.

“When you take the circulation of income in the municipality, the set of benefits makes a difference. The Social Security reform, for example, will generate long-term income, because the reform takes some time to have a concrete effect. Now, the Bolsa Família, the emergency aid takes effect immediately”, explains Fernandes.

Although the amount is insufficient, the program kept payments constant during the Covid-19 pandemic. By giving automatic access to emergency aid, it heated up the city’s commerce and made 2020 stand out in terms of revenue.

At Mercantil Agape, the most sold items are eggs, coffee, sugar, rice, beans and mortadella. Last year, Cleudison Matos Bitencourt, 39, saw her sales grow with the payment of emergency aid. Then, with the decrease in value and the increase in the price of meat, it stopped selling several items at the butcher’s, which is now mainly stocked with chicken.

The expectation with the change in the value of the benefit is “great”, says Bitencourt. He predicts that sales will grow, people will owe less and the market will even be able to trade red meat again.

“I believe that, with this increase, our sales will improve a lot. Even because we notice the difference when it is in the Bolsa Família payment period. We can see that our sales change”, he says.

Maria Isabel Firmino Siqueira, 44, owner of the Ponto da Moda clothing store, also felt that commerce had improved significantly with the emergency aid. She believes in improved sales with the readjustment promoted by Auxílio Brasil, but with the increase in food prices, she doesn’t know to what extent people will be able to renew their clothing.

“People need to eat, feed and food is very expensive”, he says. “Last year was good, impressive with the R$ 600. They bought a lot. This year, nothing, not even in installments.”

The researcher at Made-USP (Research Center in Macroeconomics of Inequalities of the University of São Paulo), Matias Cardomingo, sees the increase as an expansion of Bolsa Família. He considers, however, that the end of emergency aid –which had regular payments completed in October– generates a decrease in the immediate income of families, but there are still benefits in relation to the average amount previously paid.

“Although we have relevant criticism regarding the design of the program, as it introduces a series of new benefits and ends up not specifying how these benefits will compete with each other within the same budget, the benefit amount has a relevant increase in relation to to Bolsa Família”, he says.

collaborated Isabella Menon