RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bonus payments to active military personnel in the three branches of the Armed Forces have increased by 850 percent in six years. The uniform allowance is a perk that, like the suit allowance for legislators, is intended to cover expenses with work clothing, but in practice serves as extra remuneration for high-ranking military personnel.
Expenditures on uniform allowance have fluctuated 52 percent in twelve years, rising from R$24.6 million (US$6 million) in 2003 to R$37.4 million in 2012. In the following year, however, spending skyrocketed: it climbed by 920 percent to R$381.7 million. The data, already corrected by inflation, were calculated by the NGO ‘Contas Abertas’ at the request of UOL news site.
Since then, expenses have remained high. They leaped to R$422 million in 2014 and R$428 million in 2015. They retreated to R$401 million in 2016 and climbed the following year again to R$423.4 million, dropping to R$355.4 million last year.
In the first six months of 2019, the government has already spent R$246 million, nineteen percent more than the R$207 million disbursed in the same period last year. The increase in spending between 2012 and 2018 is as high as 850 percent. If the 2003 expenses are taken into account, this increase amounts to 1,345 percent.