2016 Budget provides welfare cash transfer program with $250m increase
The Bolsa Família program benefits about 13.9 million families in poverty
The federal government's 2016 budget provides for a cash boost of about $250 million for the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program, according to the Ministry of Social Development (MDS), which runs the program. The increase will allow the government to increase the benefits paid to eligible families. The details as to the exact increase in the benefit amount or when it will become effective are still open.
The cash increase in the program, which benefits about 13.9 million families in poverty, was widely debated in the media after President Dilma Rousseff vetoed a section of the 2016 Budget Directive (LDO) that tied the benefit rise to inflation.
In her message to Congress explaining the vetoes, President Rousseff said the Bolsa Família program has been going through structural improvement and changes and she had no choice but to veto this “substantial increase” that was set to hurt families in extreme poverty, because beneficiaries are paid different, nonlinear amounts depending on their situation.
According to the MDS, the average monthly benefit payment for each family is $40, and benefit amounts have risen above inflation since 2011.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: 2016 Budget provides welfare cash transfer program with $250m increase
