Mixed committee approves preliminary report of the 2023 Budget

The Joint Budget Commission (CMO) approved this Wednesday (30) the preliminary report presented on Tuesday (29) by senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), in which he proposed a 1.3% cut in expenses government discretionary measures, such as investments, financial investments and current expenses, to pay for amendments. Now, the collegiate continues to analyze the highlights.

The report was delivered on Tuesday morning at the CMO and the expectation is that the text will be approved in the plenary of Congress by December 16th. The piece still does not have the adjustments intended by the team of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) that involve issues related to the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of the transition.

Castro’s preliminary report provides for BRL 105 billion for payment of a BRL 405 installment of the Auxílio Brasil (which will once again be called Bolsa Família), as sent by the Bolsonaro government. Lula’s team, however, wants to open this space in the Budget by removing the entire social program from the spending ceiling through the transition PEC.

With the release of R$ 105 billion in the Budget, if the PEC is approved the way it is, the elected government wants to guarantee a real increase in the minimum wage and the recomposition of funds for programs such as Minha Casa, Minha Vida, Farmácia Popular and lunch school. This depends, however, on negotiation in Congress. Some parliamentarians defend that only part of Bolsa Família be outside the fiscal rules or that the ceiling be raised to cover the difference needed to pay the installment of BRL 600 and the additional BRL 150 for each child up to six years old.

In the opinion, Castro states that, in order to obtain “resources to meet amendments, it is proposed to carry out a prior linear cut in the discretionary programs of the Executive Branch classified as other current expenses, investments and financial investments”. He suggests that these cuts be made in programs with a value greater than R$ 1 million and supported by unrelated sources of funds, which can be used to meet the amendments.

Technicians say that these cuts can open space to direct resources to the commission amendments and those of the secret budget, a scheme revealed last year by the Estadão through which the Planalto Palace contemplates allies, without transparency and public policy criteria, in exchange for parliamentary support. “This procedure implies a reduction of 1.3% in the total resources allocated in discretionary programs of the Executive Branch”, states the opinion.

Castro also proposes, in the document, that he be authorized to make adjustments to the Annual Budget Bill (PLOA) of 2023 through the allocation of amendments by the general rapporteur, of the secret budget, as always happens. These adjustments can be requested by the Executive, by means of letters sent by the Ministry of Economy.

The next step in the processing of the 2023 Budget is the vote on the sectoral reports and, finally, on the final opinion, which will also need to pass in the plenary of Congress.