Brazil plans to create bottled gas vouchers for low-income families

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Reuters) The federal government plans to include a bottled gas voucher in the reformulation of social programs to be announced in August, to offset the record fuel price hikes, says Reuters.

There is still no definition of the amount, budget source, or how the vouchers will be distributed. The intention is to reach low-income families served by the Bolsa Família program — which should grow from the current 14 million families benefited to about 17 million.

“It is a concern of the president, and he wants an alternative because of the high price. But the amount hasn’t been defined yet, nor if it will be included in the Bolsa Família or paid separately, only that there will be one,” said one of the sources.

The gas-voucher – which goes back to 2001 when, also in the face of high fuel prices, Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s government created the benefit – should be a bonus to subsidize the purchase of a gas cylinder, but it won’t cover the whole cost.

According to a second source, the intention is that the program will temporarily alleviate the cost of living for poorer families while the economy improves.

The constant readjustments have led to a 66% increase in the price of cooking gas since the beginning of Jair Bolsonaro’s government. At the beginning of July, the latest, 5.9%, was the 15th in a row.

A 13-kilogram bottle of gas currently costs between R$85 and R$110 on average, according to research at state distributors – a prohibitive amount in a country where, according to the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), in the first three months of the year practically one-third of families lived without any work income, and 26% have family incomes of up to R$1,650 per month.

Bolsonaro has constantly complained about the cost of gas but attributed the increase to the ICMS charged by the states and not to the constant pricing readjustments made by Petrobras.

“I eliminated the federal taxes on cooking gas. Now the ICMS is high… it is abuse, too, right? People think it’s my fault. Patience”, he said in a conversation with supporters, where the theme is recurrent.

The gas voucher would be part of the populist package that the government intends to present in August with the reformulation of social programs, focusing on increasing the average value of the Bolsa Família and the inclusion of more beneficiaries.

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