The economic team may be forced to make a “significant” block of budgetary resources this year if there is revenue frustration in the last two months and the government is also forced to make high additional spending on healthcare for meet the minimum spending required by the Constitution, Planning Minister Simone Tebet said on Monday.
“Maybe we are not talking about ‘arrest,’ but we are talking about public policies like Minha Casa Minha Vida, public policies in the social area, and there are many,” Tebet told reporters after attending an event at Fundação Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo, also citing the risk of infrastructure cuts.
“I believe that good politics will prevail in the sense of knowing how to interpret the Constitution in light of the superior interests of Brazilian society,” the minister reflected.
The government’s revenue and expenditure calendar, updated last week, did not include in its projections a forecast of higher spending on health and education this year after the repeal of the spending cap, which could raise the limit of disbursement for these areas of up to 20 billion. reais, depending on Congress’ decision on a bill addressing the topic.
The argument is that there are still uncertainties regarding the calculation.
While the spending cap stipulated that spending on health and education should be adjusted for inflation, the previous rule, which came into force with the new fiscal framework, enacted at the end of August, obliges the government to invest 15% of its revenue liquid currents in these areas.
According to Tebet, it is not yet clear whether this year the government will have to respect the constitutional minimum as a whole – which he classified as the “worst case scenario” – and whether compliance can be proportional to the duration of the framework. in 2023 or if he can be released by the government this year.
The minister specified that the government will still decide whether to consult the Federal Court of Auditors on the issue. It also monitors the progress of a bill in Congress that could, in practice, reduce the minimum health spending this year, defining that the calculation will have to be carried out taking as a reference the net current revenues foreseen in the budget project, which were inferior.
Tebet stressed that the government still has time to deliberate on the issue, as it will publish two bimonthly reports on revenue and expenditure later this year.
“Fiscal risks have a price, we have room for change. Now, it is important to say, any scenario that imposes the minimum percentages of the Constitution on us, especially in the healthcare sector… will certainly have a very strong impact and have a decisive impact on essential public policies of Brazil,” he said.
Source: Terra
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