Rogério Ceron says he sees no news in the PT member’s statement; president said he needed to know whether to reduce spending or increase revenue
The Secretary of the National Treasury, Rogério Ceronsaid this Wednesday (June 26, 2024) that he had not seen anything new in the president’s statements Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on the balance in public accounts. Earlier, the PT member declared that he did not know whether he needed to cut expenses or increase revenue.
“I didn’t see anything other than what was already public in the president’s speeches, in terms of simply the fact that we are at the stage of presenting the president of the Republic with a diagnosis of the situation of public spending. So, I don’t think there is anything new.”Ceron declared to journalists at the Ministry of Finance.
Read below what Lula said in an interview with the portal UOL:
- “The problem is not that you have to cut. The problem is knowing whether we really need to cut or whether we need to increase revenue. We have to have this discussion.”
The secretary stated that Lula’s speeches concern the process of presenting alternatives for reviewing and cutting public spending. He cited the meeting of ministers Fernando Haddad (Farm) and Simone Tebet (Planning and Budget) with the Chief Executive to present the “menu” of options.
“What the president mentioned today is what is actually happening […] Presentation rounds were made for the President of the Republic by Minister Fernando Haddad It is Minister Tebet and the entire Budget Execution Board”he said.
The public spending review came into the spotlight after Haddad and Tebet’s public statements about the need to speed up this process. The demonstrations come at a time of market distrust over the government’s fiscal policy.
As shown by the Power360, measures to reduce expenses are still in the trial process. Almost nothing is really defined. Despite the statements, nothing effective was announced. It seems to have remained only in the field of rhetoric.
The spending cut is seen as more assertive by the financial market than an attempt to increase revenue, which is based on estimates.
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Ceron signaled that the majority of the reduction in spending should occur through modifications to some benefits and programs, not necessarily through the end of any of these modalities. He highlighted Social Security.
“There is concern about the dynamics of expenditure growth. The dynamics of spending growth are different from the dynamics of spending cuts. It’s one thing to close something, discontinue a program, it’s another to allow growth to occur, but growth compatible with the fiscal framework”he stated.
Some members of the economic team have already discussed the possibility of decoupling the increase in the minimum wage from social security. Lula dismissed the idea and Ceron reinforced the PT member’s opinion.
“The president signaled that the minimum wage is a concept […] to preserve the poorest section of the population. It is not the only way for you, far from being, to adjust to the dynamics of the social security deficit”said the secretary.
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