Finance Minister: Congress to keep 70% of pension reform bill unchanged

Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles on Tuesday (April 18) said that despite the amendments made by Arthur Maia, the lawmaker reporting on the pension reform in the lower house, 70% of the original reform bill submitted by the federal government will be kept by Congress.

“We told them the changes should not alter a very significant portion of the original plan—it should kept within 30%, that is, they had to carry out at least 70% of the original terms of the reform. We expect they are going to comply,” the minister said following an event he attended in São Paulo.

The amendments—which will be reflected in the piece to be read out by Maia on Wednesday (19)--include a decrease in the minimum contribution time required for eligibility to the full retirement benefit from 49 to 40 years, and a lower minimum age of retirement for women—62 years, compared to men's 65 years.

According to Meirelles, failure to stick to 70% of the government's original proposal would prompt the goverment to come up with additional measures to ensure the desired austerity effect on social security finance would be achieved. “The only reason we haven't tabled any additional proposals at this time is, the reform is going as planned,” the minister said.

Translated by Mayra Borges