“Speaking wrong is an art, otherwise it becomes debauchery.” The reflection of the notable São Paulo Adoniran Barbosa accurately frames the statements in the column “Rio de Janeiro’s fiscal recovery plan is not serious”, by Marcos Mendes.
The plan presented at the end of 2021, and still under analysis by the National Treasury, was prepared in a balanced, serious and innovative way, meeting all the requests of the RRF (Tax Recovery Regime).
Going straight to the wrongly approached points, let’s start with the increase in tax revenue from the special participations of oil. The amount of BRL 22.4 billion was calculated — including amounts owed in the past — based on the consistent work of a CPI carried out by Alerj (Rio Legislative Assembly) in 2021. The number is not guesswork or speculation, it is fact, it is enough read.
Regarding the pension reform, which the columnist accuses Rio of not having done, it is worth remembering that, in 2017, when entering the first RRF, the state promoted its own, by adopting an increase in the contribution to 14%. Last year, another reform, the change in the minimum age for retirement. In addition, since 2012 Rio has its own supplementary pension scheme.
In 2021, an administrative reform was also carried out, which extinguished bonuses for time of service of new servers; and created a spending ceiling. Regarding total expenses, including personnel, the state of Rio reduced its expenses by 11.3% since 2018, a prominent result at the national level.
The argument that Rio “is supported by the rest of the country” is also lacking. The article signatory should read more about Rio de Janeiro. In practice, of the entire federal collection in Rio, 75% is redistributed to the other states and to the Union itself. Not to mention that the ICMS on the oil that Rio produces, unlike other products, is charged at destination, not at origin. , an obvious distortion.
It is not up to the columnist to mention that the plan presented by the state of Rio “does not stand still” when proposing an increase in spending to stimulate growth. Our plan defends investment as the way, a way to collect more and generate jobs. And the RJ Pact, a program that foresees investments of R$ 17 billion throughout the state, is one of the pillars, based on the econometric models developed by the Secretary of Finance, because it strengthens the collection in a sustained way.
The reduction in expenditure in the last year of the regime did not happen by magic, as the column would have us believe. It actually happens because of the option to invest in a smaller volume than in previous years: BRL 1.2 billion in 2030, compared to BRL 7.5 billion in 2029. In fact, these same capital expenditures that make up the ceiling in an unintelligible way of spending, but I understand for those who believe in the spending cap as a solution to all the problems of public finances.
As for revenue growth, the plan, prudently and responsibly, used over time, but with concentration at the end and in an innovative way, assets as an instrument for debt settlement, among them the securitization of outstanding debt of R$ 120 billion. It comes out of the sameness of fiscalists, who only see fiscal balance on the side of expenses, and it is for no other reason that the Brazilian State is a bad collector.
On Cedae, another slip: there was a contractual provision that the sale proceeds would be transferred to the Federal Government, upon the concession. Complementary law 181/2021 establishes that they can be paid over time, so they were included in the graphic account.
And calling a salary increase the readjustment of servers is, at the very least, misinformation. The civil service will, in fact, have the recomposition of inflation by the IPCA, provided for in the Fiscal Recovery Plan itself. Servants in the state of Rio have not been replaced since 2014, and the recomposition will be carried out within the limit of the percentage growth in tax revenue.
We invite the columnist, before getting carried away with the easy pen, to read the diagnosis that provided the conceptual basis for the plan and understand the complexity of the state’s economy and public finances. Otherwise, you can follow another advice from Master Adoniran: “Go my son, God bless you… Follow your path”.
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I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
