[ad_1]
The Mixed Commission on Congressional Budgets (CMO) of the National Congress, made up of deputies and senators, approved this Thursday (25) the Union Budget bill for 2021, with the income and expenses expected for this year.
Parliamentarians also discussed so-called highlights, which are suggestions for modifying points in the budget proposal. However, no changes were approved.
One of the most outstanding aspects was the allocation of more resources to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) to make the demographic census viable. (look down).
The text will still be appreciated in the plenary session of the Congress called for the afternoon of this Thursday (25).
Among other points, the budget proposal defines the following rules:
- Revenues will total R $ 4,324 billion;
- The expenses will total R $ 4,324 billion;
- The primary deficit of the public accounts could reach R $ 247.1 billion;
- The global objective for the public sector is R $ 251.1 billion (including state companies, states and municipalities).
The macroeconomic parameters that support the proposal and are used to estimate tax collection are outdated. As a result, according to technicians, public spending was underestimated.
In practice, the Executive will have to re-evaluate the accounts and it may be necessary to cut funds from the ministries.
The project is based, for example, on the projection that the average Selic rate should be 2.63% per year. However, the rate is currently 2.75% and can reach 3.5%.
The parameters used also predict that the country may grow 3.2% in 2020, that inflation measured by the IPCA may remain at 4.4% and that the average dollar exchange rate should remain at R $ 5.30.
The opinion presented by the rapporteur, Senator Márcio Bittar (MDB-AC), foresees a cut in resources for the demographic census. THE IBGE fears that this will make the investigation unviable.
The survey collects data on income, education, access to services, and family profiles. This information is used to define public policies. By law, the investigation must be carried out every ten years.
The last census was in 2010. Due to the pandemic, the census that was scheduled for 2020 was postponed to the second half of 2021.
Initially, the IBGE requested R $ 3.4 billion to carry out the investigation. However, after pressure from the federal government, the institute had to reduce its budget and the cost rose to approximately R $ 2 billion. In his opinion, Bittar cut R $ 1.7 billion. According to the institute, what remains is not enough to fund the research.
One of the highlights presented was aimed at reversing the cut and allocating more resources to IBGE, thus guaranteeing the completion of the census.
In total, public health actions and services will have a budget of R $ 125 billion, slightly higher than the constitutional level (R $ 123.8 billion).
The amount is higher than last year’s budget, which was R $ 121 billion, but it is below the values effectively applied in Health in 2020, considering the extraordinary credits of the pandemic, which totaled R $ 161 billion.
For education, the minimum amount that must be assigned is R $ 55.6 billion. However, according to the rapporteur, considering all the sources of resources in the sector, the value reaches R $ 100 billion.
The text provides for a transfer from the Federal Government of R $ 19.6 billion to the Basic Education Maintenance and Development Fund (Fundeb), an amount equivalent to 12% of the resources contributed by the states and municipalities.
The text also foresees an expenditure of R $ 451.1 billion, which is conditional on the future approval of the complementary loan by the National Congress. The Executive will depend on this authorization from the Legislature so as not to disrespect the “golden rule”.
Provided in the Federal Constitution, the mechanism prohibits the government from incurring debts to pay current expenses, such as salaries, and can only be circumvented with the approval of Congress.
The rapporteur considers, however, that, in the event of an eventual decree of a state of public calamity, the fees may be authorized directly by the Executive.
To comply with the spending cap rule, the federal government estimates that it could have to block R $ 17.5 billion in non-mandatory spending by the ministries by the end of 2021. This tax rule prevents spending from growing above the inflation.
Non-mandatory or “discretionary” expenditures are those over which the government has decision-making power. These expenditures represent a small portion of the ministries’ budget and include expenditures on health, education, federal investments, and costs, such as water and electricity bills. The rest, about 95% of the total, are mandatory expenses.
The Budget is generally approved in the previous year, since it is necessary to organize public spending.
However, the vote that should have taken place in 2020 ended up being postponed until 2021 due to political disputes, the Covid-19 pandemic and the municipal elections.
The vote on the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO), which serves as the basis for the Budget and should have been analyzed by July, was approved at the end of December.
As a result, since the beginning of the year, the federal government has only been able to access 1/12 of the estimated annual budget per month.
