Bolsonaro talks about a solution for Refis and says that the Ministry of Economy sometimes leaves something to be desired

After vetoing the debt renegotiation project of Simples Nacional companies and MEIs (individual microentrepreneurs), President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Saturday (8) that he is working on a provisional measure or compensatory ordinance for the sector.

“The decision, the next day, I paid for a mission for Paulo Guedes to seek an alternative, possibly for yesterday. It was not possible. We moved to Monday. Perhaps a provisional measure or an ordinance in this sense,” he said.

Bolsonaro spoke to journalists in front of the house of the AGU (Attorney General of the Union), Bruno Bianco, who had a party to celebrate his 40th birthday.

“We are not going to abandon these people, it is a very strong base of the economy, so they will be taken care of”, added the Chief Executive.

Initially, the president wanted to have sanctioned the proposal. “Obviously, we were interested in being approved,” he said on Saturday.

But, advised by the economic and legal teams, he vetoed it entirely, displeasing Congress. Parliamentarians have already promised to overturn the veto on the return of the Legislative’s work.

The episode generated discomfort with Paulo Guedes’s portfolio. According to the president, the project approved by parliamentarians had two “risks”: the absence of a source of compensation, which would violate the Fiscal Responsibility Law; and the electoral law, as shown by the leaf.

This was the second friction within a few weeks with the ministry. On the last day of 2020, Bolsonaro ignored the economic team and sanctioned the payroll exemption of 17 sectors for another two years.

The sanction was made without any compensation measure for the loss of income, contrary to the folder.

This Saturday, Bolsonaro recalled the episode and said that, in some moments, the Ministry of Economy “lacks something to be desired”.

“We went against the economy [no veto da desoneração da folha] and we ended up winning without risk to our side. Unfortunately, the Economy does an exceptional job for us, but at times it leaves something to be desired. It is a very big ministry. Paulo Guedes is competent, he has our support, but he has four heavy ministries,” he said.