Bolsonaro announces cheaper credit from Caixa to benefit truck drivers

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) announced this Friday (4) the release of a specific line of credit from Caixa Econômica Federal to anticipate the payment of freight costs to truck drivers.

In a new nod to the category that helped elect Bolsonaro and exerts frequent pressure on the government, the bank will start releasing resources with interest rates starting at 1.99% per month.

Not only truck drivers have received the president’s attention in the year in which he will run for reelection. Bolsonaro has insisted on granting salary readjustments to police officers and has also created a subsidized real estate credit program for the category.

According to Caixa, “cargo transport companies that hire a term freight service can ask the bank to advance their payment directly to the autonomous carrier (truck driver)”.

Now, according to the bank, the funds will be deposited directly into the account of autonomous carriers within 120 days of payment of freight.

Self-employed truck drivers make up part of the category that stopped the country in 2018 to demand precisely the readjustment of the freight table and the containment of increases in the price of diesel.

The president made several nods and promises to his base, some not fulfilled, during his term. Truck drivers have complained about some of these proposals and have even rehearsed stoppages.

At the event, at Caixa Cultural, in Brasília, Bolsonaro did not speak. There were speeches by ministers and government auxiliaries praising the actions of the Chief Executive.

Second in the Planalto polls, behind former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), Bolsonaro has invested in agendas and actions to improve popularity.

The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, praised the president, the day after the presentation of a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that allows the reduction of taxes on fuel.

“I will say that the dream team is ours. I just wanted to leave this message, to thank the president, who is the leader of this team”, stated Guedes.

The PEC caused discomfort between the economic team and Planalto because the reduction proposed in the text prepared by the Civil House is broader than what had been agreed with Guedes. The minister defended exempting only diesel, which serves the interests of truck drivers.

The infrastructure minister and potential candidate for governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, said that the measure is “another product for truck drivers”.

During the event, the president of Caixa, Pedro Guimarães, said he hoped that 1.5 million people would benefit from the new credit line.

“[Os caminhoneiros] they took credit with 10% to 15% per month. The truck driver had the freight, but didn’t necessarily have the money before delivering the load. I had to borrow it, even to pay for the diesel,” said Guimarães.

The rise in fuel prices is a cause for concern in an election year. The PEC is, for example, another attempt by Bolsonaro to approve measures that benefit his support base.

For the category, the president is in debt. Bolsonaro even zeroed the PIS and Cofins charge for diesel from March to the end of April 2021, but the benefit ended up being swallowed up by other components of the final price.

In October of the same year, the president promised a benefit of R$ 400 to around 750 thousand autonomous cargo carriers, which did not come to fruition.

In the coup-based acts promoted by the president on the holiday of September 7, 2021, however, a large group of truck drivers was in Brasília and maintained the pro-government protests in the following days.

Written by an official from the Planalto, the broad PEC on fuels was filed by deputy Christino Áureo (PP-RJ), who is trying to collect the 171 signatures necessary for it to be processed in the House.

The impact of these reductions could reach R$ 54 billion for the Union, according to internal government calculations. With the cut in diesel taxes, for example, the impact would be R$ 17 billion.

For the economic team, the text leads to the perception of a worsening in public accounts, which, in turn, can boost dollar and interest rates, making it difficult to resume and accelerating inflation.

This week, Bolsonaro made an appeal for the approval of the measure.

“I now ask the parliamentarians here for help. No one is going to do anything barbarity, but I want them to give me the powers to eliminate the tax on diesel – on cooking gas we have already zeroed – to face these challenges,” Bolsonaro said during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace.

Also on the radar of the economic team a linear cut in IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products) rates as a way to pressure governors to accept a change in the collection of ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services) on fuels.

In addition to targeting truck drivers, Bolsonaro still wants to give salary increases to police officers, from his base, with an amount of R$ 1.7 billion reserved in the 2022 Budget to give readjustments to servers.

The targeted promise of the Chief Executive, who counts the police as an important part of his electorate, triggered mobilizations of other categories of civil servants, who demand the same treatment. Some have been without readjustment for five years.

To get around the charges, the government is studying raising the value of benefits received by public servants, such as food stamps.

In September 2021, the president signed an MP (Provisional Measure) to create a subsidized real estate financing program for public security agents.

The government has set aside R$ 100 million to benefit, in the first year, federal police, federal highways, military, civil and municipal civil guards – active and retired who receive up to R$ 7,000 per month.

Just last year, President Bolsonaro reduced for the third time the collection of IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products) on electronic games and accessories.

The president has lost support within the gamer community, especially among his influencers, as Folha showed.