The Treasury Secretary said there was an ongoing technical debate and that the fiscal impact could be “zero” this year
National Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron said there are precedents in the TCU (Federal Court of Audit) for exempting the government from paying the constitutional health minimum this year. In other words, the minimum budget will only apply from 2024 onwards.
Federal Budget Secretary of the Ministry of Planning, Paulo Bigos, said on Friday (September 22, 2023) that the government could pay R$20 billion in additional value for health.
The constitutional basis for health and education came into effect again with the expiration of the spending ceiling and the approval of the financial framework. As a result, the minimum budget for both areas has already entered into force, but since there will be no such rule for the whole of 2023, there will likely be an impact of increased public spending until the end of the year.
However, Cerrone said the financial impact could be zero, because there are precedents at TCU that would push back the minimum rule to 2024 due to the near end of the year.
There is a doubt that he would transfer to TCU if the minimum was proportional to the rest of the year or respected the entire annual fee.
“The effect could be zero. There are elements that justify not implementing it in this final stretch [do ano] Based on some precedents that already exist in TCU itself, but may have other understandings that could influence this: R$3 billion, R$5 billion. I think R$20 billion is not a scenario that would provide all that“Cerone announced.
The Minister announced that this problem must be resolved before the end of the year, and that if the TCU understanding is to be paid, the Government will abide by it. “We have to adhere to legislation and there is no way around it“, he declared.
He conducted an interview this Thursday (September 28, 2023) with journalists to present the preliminary results of the government’s public accounts. The Treasury recorded a primary deficit of R$26.35 billion in August. Year-to-date, the negative balance has exceeded R$100 billion.
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