Text sent to the Chamber authorizes pre-salt resources to be paid directly to Caixa to cover the program’s costs, without going through the Social Fund and the Budget
To boost the current Gas Aid from 2025, the government Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will use a mechanism to circumvent the fiscal framework. Gas for All, which will cost 267% more than the current program, will be funded by resources that will not pass through the National Treasury accounts, remaining outside the spending growth cap.
The arrangement is mentioned in the bill 3,335 of 2024, submitted this week by Lula to the National Congress to modify the Gas Aid and create the new social benefit. The gas cylinder distribution program will cost R$13.6 billion per year starting in 2026, when it will be 100% implemented. Here is the full of the project (PDF – 143 kB).
The text establishes that the source of resources for Gas for All will be the Pre-Salt Social Fund. Created in 2010, the fund is supplied with payments from oil companies to the federal government, such as royaltiessigning bonus (granting of contract), and part of the revenue from the Union’s oil and natural gas auctions, produced by the pre-salt sharing regime.
As the resources collected by the Social Fund are included in the Union’s annual fiscal goals, the government included in the project the possibility of the resources to cover the program’s costs being paid directly by the oil companies to Caixa Econômica Federal, which will manage the social benefit, without first going through the Social Fund.
Therefore, the measure will not impact the Executive’s spending limitations. However, it will impact revenue, since contributions to the Social Fund will be lower, since part of the resource will be sent directly to Caixa to cover the program’s costs. The bank will then pass the resources on to accredited gas resellers.
On Wednesday (28th August), the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dario Durigan, said that Gas for All has “tax compatibility” and will not compromise the reduction of R$ 26 billion of spending in the 2025 Budget announced by the economic team.
“What is proposed is a bill presentedpresented to Congress and that it is fiscally compatible, to the extent that it provides for expenses and waivers – from the point of view of payments that are due to the Union”Durigan said in an interview with reporters.
Also on Wednesday, the executive secretary of the MPO (Ministry of Planning and Budget), Gustavo Guimarães, stated, however, that this waiver will depend on the design of the program and that there is still no exact information on its size. “It will also depend on demand”he said.
According to Guimarães, if the impact is greater than that already measured, it will be necessary to make adjustments to other policies.
UNDERSTAND THE NEW BENEFIT
The federal government’s new social program Gas for All will cost 267% more than the current Gas Aid. The benefit, announced on Monday (26.Aug) by the president Lula, will begin to be distributed gradually from January 2025 and will cost R$13.6 billion per year from 2026, when it will be fully implemented.
The Gas Aid, which will be replaced by the new program in 2025, had a much smaller expense, of R$3.7 billion. It is paid every 2 months, in cash, together with the Bolsa Família installment for 5.6 million beneficiary families registered in CadÚnico (the Federal Government’s Single Registry).
The number of beneficiaries will grow almost at the same rate as the cost: 271%. The government expects to include more people in the recipient base throughout 2025 and reach 20.8 million families by December of next year, reaching all current Bolsa Família recipients.
The difference is that now, instead of paying the benefit in cash, the government will give a cylinder of cooking gas to each family. And it will be 100% free. According to the Planalto, the measure will ensure that the resources are correctly allocated to the families benefiting from them.
As Gas for All is implemented, the payment of the Gas Aid in cash to current beneficiaries will cease. The new benefit will be permanent, that is, there is no forecast of it being terminated.
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