Minister: investments in health care, housing, education to rely on tax revenues

Minister of Communications Ricardo Berzoini said on Tuesday (Sep. 8) that, faced with the federal budget deficit, investments in such areas as health care, education, and housing in 2016 will rely on tax collection and may suffer the impact of reduced revenues. Among the programs affected are the Minha Casa, Minha Vida affordable housing program, whose third stage is scheduled to begin this week. In an interview after a meeting chaired by President Dilma Rousseff, Berzoini stressed that social initiatives such as the Minha Casa, Minha Vida will “definitely [be] preserved.” He went on to state, however, that those “are programs that can't be conducted outside of budget planning.”

The launch ceremony of the third phase of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program is slated for Thursday (10), and the government sees no reason to postpone it, Berzoini says. “This is an initiative with a major social and budgetary impact, and phase three will certainly be its continuation—adjusted to the budget we have available, of course.”

The minister advocated the government's strategy of submitting to Congress last week the 2016 budget plan with an estimated deficit of nearly $8 billion, but said that the presidency is looking for alternatives to reverse that prediction. According to Berzoini, “the government is open to discussion” on how to meet this goal.

Deliberations regarding the budget proposal in Congress was the main topic of the meeting, which was attended by the president, ten ministers, and leaders from the governing coalition at both lower and upper congressional houses. In addition to negotiating alternatives to reverse the budget gap, Berzoini said that the government is working to prevent the passing of proposals which would raise government spending.

Vice-President Michel Temer, who always takes part in meetings on political coordination, was unable to attend this morning due to personal problems.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira

Relacionadas

Rousseff once again argues for generation of revenue to balance budget

Rousseff pledges to propose solution to budget deficit