MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro makes promises for next year

Bolsonaro promised to solve the problems of the entrepreneurs “by taking the State off your backs,”

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro Tuesday says he would readjust the salary of civil servants in 2023, although, to do that beyond January 1, he would have to be reelected in October.

The incumbent leader vowed that in 2023 the government will adjust these wages that have been frozen for over 3 years. “We will do it, with responsibility, we will meet the categories that have had difficult times, but I believe that with the no contest, retirement [pension reform] and other things, we fit within the [law of] responsibility this extra that we are going to grant as a readjustment to public servants,” Bolsonaro said.

Bolsonaro had promised last year to adjust the salaries of federal security agents: federal police officers, prison guards, and federal highway patrol officers. However, workers in other walks of the administration reacted badly to such an announcement and the government backtracked on that decision.

The president added that the administrative reform bill sent to Congress does not affect the stability of currently active workers. “The proposal that is there is for future public servants and not for the current ones. We will respect the acquired rights,” the president argued in Brasilia during the Dialogues with Candidates for the Presidency of the Republic event hosted by the National Union of Entities of Commerce and Services (UNECS).

Regarding Economy Minister Paulo Guedes' zero-tax proposal on Industrialized Products (IPI), Bolsonaro underlined that the project sought “the reindustrialization of our country.”

“If we don't lower the tax burden, we are subject... to the entry of cheaper material [contraband]. There is no magic word to solve this problem, we will solve it by taking the State off your backs,” he told businessmen.

Bolsonaro also argued that since the beginning of his government, his economic team had been working on reducing bureaucracy, simplifying and reducing the tax burden, as well as on improving the business environment. In the case of IPI, the federal government has already managed to reduce by up to 35% the value of the tax levied on most products manufactured in the country, except part of those manufactured in the Manaus Free Trade Zone. According to Bolsonaro, the idea is to reach 50% by the end of the year.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)