FGTS: government predicts resistance from Congress to changes – 09/11/2023 – Market

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) intends to work quickly to send, in the coming weeks, the bill that changes the rules for the FGTS (Service Time Guarantee Fund) anniversary withdrawal.

Despite this, Palácio do Planalto and leaders in Congress believe that the proposal may face difficulties during processing. This is because there is an assessment that deputies and senators resist modifying or abolishing a rule that they themselves approved.

The proposal that allows the release of the FGTS balance for those who opted for the birthday withdrawal in recent years and who were unable to access the resources when they were fired was already forwarded about a month ago from the Ministry of Labor to the Civil House.

Palácio do Planalto is working to guarantee the economic viability of the measure, which is why it is listening to all ministries involved in the process.

Interlocutors at Planalto claim that there are no differences between the ministries regarding the proposal. Even the economic team —in particular Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance)— demonstrated that they are not opposed to the measure.

However, the government recognizes that the proposal will face difficulties in Congress at a time when the economic team is working to approve other proposals — such as the MP (provisional measure) to tax exclusive funds, of the so-called “super-rich”, and the offshore law bill.

The assessment of Planalto’s interlocutors is that deputies and senators may resist giving approval to a measure that could “empty the fund”, despite being popular among workers and injecting resources into the economy.

Furthermore, the creation of the anniversary loot had a great deal of coordination from Congress previously. The proposal that changed the rules at the time was created through an MP by the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government and gained the support of the benches, both government and opposition.

The Ministry of Labor and Employment has signaled that the proposal does not include the possibility of ending the birthday withdrawal at this time, as a way of reducing resistance.

The federal government, however, does not intend to abort the initiative and foresees that the proposal may arise on the initiative of parliamentarians.

The birthday withdrawal was created in 2019. It allows workers to withdraw part of the FGTS each year, regardless of events such as dismissal or financing their own home.

On the other hand, the worker is prevented from withdrawing the full amount from the account if he or she is fired (only being able to access the amount corresponding to the 40% termination fine paid by the company).

With the proposal to allow the redemption of the remaining balance in the event of dismissal, the government estimates that up to R$14 billion will be injected into the economy.

A Sheet, minister Luiz Marinho stated that the withdrawal of resources will not affect the structure of the fund. He also added that the objective is not to boost the economy but to correct an injustice against workers.

“The FGTS can withstand this withdrawal. What we need to look at is the future. If we want to strengthen it as an investment fund and at the same time increase workers’ savings to help them when the misfortune of unemployment occurs, the birthday withdrawal would have to cease” , it says.