By Sérgio Lima
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) returned to Brazil this Sunday (April 16) after a trip to Asia.
During the week, the head of the Brazilian Executive should prioritize sending the new fiscal rule to Congress.
Recently, this has been the main issue involving the government’s economic team.
The text is supposed to be sent to the Legislative by Tuesday (April 18).
Lula should take advantage of the meeting with members of Congress to discuss measures against school violence to deliver the proposal.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday (April 18).
The presidents Arthur Lira (PP-AL) of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) of the Senate, and Rosa Weber of the STF (Supreme Court), governors, ministers, and representatives of mayors should participate.
Earlier, Minister Simone Tebet (Planning) signaled that the new fiscal framework would be sent to Congress on Monday (April 17).
The project is the government’s big bet to try to balance the public accounts and will replace the spending cap.
Alongside Tebet, Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance) presented the new fiscal rule on March 30.
The device limits the increase in expenses to 70% of the growth in net primary revenue from the previous year.
If the public accounts result is below expectations, there will be a reduction from 70% to 50% in the limit of expenditure growth.
The new fiscal rule will contribute to “recovering the trajectory of credibility”, according to Haddad.
The new fiscal framework establishes a commitment to an upward trajectory for the primary result until 2026, with an increase of 0.5 percentage points per year.
It estimates a zero deficit for the public accounts in 2024 and a new surplus in 2025 (0.5%) and 2026 (1%).
A RESTRAINED PT
Members of Congress from the Workers’ Party (PT) defend reducing some of the restraints of the new rule to ensure more investments, as Lula promised during the presidential campaign.
Poder360 found out that they will not raise the tone in public.
At least for now, the unison speech is to justify the proposal.
They mention “social and fiscal responsibility”.
The new fiscal framework is only one of the topics the government will deal with on its return to Brazil.
Besides the new rule, the proposal of the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law) will also be dealt with.
Planning Minister Simone Tebet is expected to speak to journalists on Monday (April 17) to explain the proposal.
On Tuesday (April 18), Congress will consider seven vetoes from Lula, such as this year’s budget.
After the week in which Lula returns to Brazil, the president goes on another trip on Friday (April 21) to Portugal.
On April 24, he will attend the presentation of the Camões Award to singer and composer Chico Buarque.
After that, the president will travel to Madrid, Spain, from April 25 to 26.
In addition, other topics are on the radar of Lula’s team:
- Tax reform: simplifying taxation on consumption is at the center of the 1st phase of the reform, a proposal the government plans to send to Congress still in the 1st half of 2023;
- Nomination to the STF: after Justice Ricardo Lewandowski announced his retirement, Lula’s nomination for a seat on the STF has narrowed to the names of the lawyer Manoel Carlos de Almeida Neto, 43, who worked in Lewandowski’s office, and Cristiano Zanin, who defended the president during Operation Lava Jato;
- Legal Framework of Sanitation: text edited by Lula facilitates the permanence of state companies that failed to achieve the goal of universalizing services in the past. Understand the rules of the new framework here;
- Central Bank: the president has recently increased his criticism of the Central Bank and the institution’s president, Roberto Campos Neto. One of the president’s main complaints is the bank’s interest rate.
LULA IN ASIA
The president had a series of appointments in China on April 13 and 14.
The entourage led by him was composed of at least 73 people.
The trip’s main objective was to reestablish diplomatic and political relations with Xi Jinping’s government.
In addition, his mission was to attract investments from Brazil’s biggest trade partner and the 2nd biggest economy.
The two countries signed 15 trade, technology, and agribusiness agreements during the meeting.
On Saturday (April 15), Lula went to the United Arab Emirates with a similar purpose.
After the trip, the president said Brazil’s agreements with the two countries total US$12.63 billion.
The estimate is from the Ministry of Finance.
However, neither the head of the Executive nor the agency detailed how much of this amount goes to each pact.
With information from Poder360
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