Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday relaunched a subsidy program that in his first two terms (2003-2010) reduced poverty rates and now aims to rescue some 33 million people from hunger.
“This is not a program of a government or a president, it belongs to the whole of society”, which must “monitor” its compliance through “the press, the municipalities, the unions”, so that “the money it really reaches whoever needs itwhich is who is in a situation of poverty”, declared the ruler.
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He also stressed that the Bolsa Família program “will not solve all the country’s problems” and that the “great challenge is for the economy to grow againso that all workers can live on a decent wage”, which will be achieved, in his opinion, with the “return of the State as an inducer of the economic process”.
The new Bolsa Família will be endowed with some 175,000 million reais (33,650 million dollars), a figure equivalent to about 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and It is estimated that it will serve around 60 million people. (just over 30% of the population).
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There are 21 million families that will receive subsidies of 600 reais (115 dollars) per month, plus 150 reais (29 dollars) for each child up to six years of age.
There will also be a additional payment of 50 reais (9.6 dollars) for each child between the ages of 7 and 18and in all cases the aid will be conditional on children and young people attending school and being up to date with all vaccinations, including covid-19.
The Government estimates that, in most cases, andThe subsidy will be close to the value of the minimum wagecurrently 1,302 reais (250 dollars).
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That plan was maintained by the previous government, chaired by the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, but it served a smaller universe of families and had eliminated the school and health conditions and other social benefits associated with that initiative.
The program Bolsa Familia had been created by Lula in 2003, during his first term, and the Government estimated in 2010 that it had lifted some 40 million people out of poverty, many of whom have fallen back into that situation in recent years.
Now, the main objective is to eradicate hunger, which according to official data hit some 33.1 million Brazilians at the end of last year.
EFE
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