MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brazilian congress ignores Rousseff's call for spending cuts
The bill forces Rousseff to get congressional approval before cutting spending items added to the national budget by lawmakers for projects in their districts Brazil's Congress passed legislation on Tuesday that limits the president's ability to reduce pork-barrel spending passed by lawmakers, a setback for President Dilma Rousseff's efforts to fight a fiscal deficit.
The bill forces the government to get congressional approval before cutting spending items added to the national budget by lawmakers for projects in their districts, effectively obliging the executive to spend the money approved by Congress.
Rousseff opposed the proposal which could add an estimated 7 billion Brazilian Reais (2.8 billion dollars) to government spending, but she backed an amendment that will increase public spending on health to 15% of net current revenue in four years.
Unlike the United States, where appropriation bills passed by Congress must be executed, Brazilian presidents have greater powers to veto or delay budget items approved by lawmakers.
Increased spending in an election year contributed to Brazil posting a public sector primary budget deficit of 32.5 billion Reais last year, the first annual budget gap since the current data series started in 2001.
The 2014 deficit underscores the daunting uphill battle that Rousseff's new economic team faces to shore up public accounts and avoid a credit rating downgrade in the midst of an economic slowdown that will shrink tax revenues.
Rousseff started out her second term last month appointing Joaquim Levy, a fiscal conservative, to launch an austerity drive that includes spending cuts and higher taxes.
Plans to trim unemployment and pension benefits, however, have met with strong opposition from labor unions and lawmakers from parties within Rousseff's government coalition.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
-
-
Read all comments77% of the voters believe she was part of the corruption.....not a good number. They are protesting in the streets for Dilma's impeachment.
Feb 13th, 2015 - 04:51 am 0Must be the USA coup planning......right brasshole?
Correct. The farther the United States, the better. Not to mention, that for where Brazil is going to South America will follow. The South American business are directed to Asia. The United States is a thing of the past.
Feb 13th, 2015 - 08:01 am 0“...protesting in the streets...” The information passed by the US security services are increasingly less accurate.
“...77% of the voters believe...” Did you based on some research manipulated by Rede Globo, Abril or Datafolha?
Do yourself a favor, criticize what you read.
Marxists only know how to spend.
Feb 13th, 2015 - 11:33 am 0Brazil is doomed
It is a few steps behind Argentina
It will be fun to watch it fall
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!