Research entities made an alert, this Friday (27), that a budget cut of almost R$ 3 billion should occur in national science later this year. The largest share of this amount is from the FNDCT (National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development), a billionaire fund that researchers have been asking for some time to be fully released.
The Science and Technology and Economy ministries have not yet expressed themselves on the matter, despite an attempt to contact the Sheet.
The alarm was sounded by two of the main scientific societies in the country, the ABC (Brazilian Academy of Sciences) and the SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science).
“It’s tragic”, says Helena Nader, president of ABC. “Brazilian science is over”, she says, referring to this blockade of funds and other bottlenecks and financial cuts for research that have been happening.
Of the R$ 4.5 billion available by the FNDCT for this year, R$ 2.5 billion would be frozen, that is, more than half of the usable budget.
The FNDCT receives funds through the collection of charges and taxes, which are subsequently allocated to the promotion of science.
According to the FNDCT plan for 2022, the amount committed for the year would be around R$ 3.5 billion, between projects already contracted and others that would still start receiving funds. The amount is lower than the approximately R$ 2 billion remaining after the freezing of funds.
More than a hundred investments in scientific projects could be affected by the resource freeze.
Among them are broad actions such as Proantar (Brazilian Antarctic Program), the Synthesis Center on Global Climate Change and research on mitigation and adaptation to climate change. It may also be reflected in studies and research groups in the agricultural, health, mining, energy, and even national security and defense areas.
In some cases, grants may also be affected, as in the national program to support young doctors.
According to Nader, the budget that will be available will only be sufficient for actions that are already underway (contracted portfolios).
The president of ABC says that the FNDCT, which would have a more correct use being used for strategic programs, has become the lifeline of the general scientific budget. “The CNPq no longer has a budget. It depends on the FNDCT”, she says.
The SBPC, in a repudiation note signed by Renato Janine Ribeiro, president of the entity, states that the FNDCT funds are “stamped and should be used exclusively for the country’s scientific and technological research”.
Nader and the SBPC say the blockade is against the law. They cite Complementary Law 177 of 2021. Article 11, paragraph 3, states that “the budgetary allocation of amounts from sources linked to the FNDCT in contingency reserves” is prohibited.
For the current cut, however, Nader claims that the ministry would be using semantics. “He says he hasn’t cut it, he’s blocking it. The ministry’s budget has been cut by at least 40%.”
“The SBPC demands that the Executive Power respect the legislation in force and not continue this billionaire blockade of the already few resources of the National Science, Technology and Innovation System – SNCTI”, says Ribeiro, in the note. “We call on the National Congress to defend the approved budget and act to reverse these cuts, if they are confirmed. It is unbelievable that, even after all the contributions of science in these difficult years of the Covid-19 pandemic, science continues to be attacked by the federal government.”
The society chaired by Ribeiro classifies the budget block as an “attack by the federal government on Brazilian science”.
In the same vein, Nader says he doesn’t think the cut wouldn’t be random. “I think they don’t believe they need science. It’s a national project that they have. It’s not mine”, says the researcher, then stating that science generates jobs.
