Government releases R$30 billion to pay court orders in February

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) announced the release of R$30.1 billion to pay precatório, Executive debts that no longer accept resources. The amount is part of the amount expected for the year 2024 and was initially scheduled to be paid in July. However, it was brought forward to this month of February.

Gustavo Guimarães, executive secretary of Planning, says that the release of resources was the result of joint work between the Ministries of Planning and Budget, Finance and the Judiciary. He highlighted that this measure is positive for public accounts, as it reduces interest costs and correction of amounts owed.

“Less court orders mean more space for investments and programs that meet society’s needs”, stated Guimarães in an interview with Power 360 this Friday (23). According to information from the Ministry of Planning, the total amount to be paid in court orders this year exceeds R$86 billion.

The ministry also stated that “the entire budget resources involved are already under the management of the applicable courts, for effective payment to the respective beneficiaries”.

Minister Simone Tebet said, last Wednesday (21), that the court orders are “worrying” the economic team, highlighting that the values ​​are much higher than public investments in Brazil. To journalists, she revealed that almost R$20 billion is linked to Social Security, and mentioned having carried out a mapping that revealed that 70% of the debts correspond to amounts of up to R$10 million.

Also according to the ministry, this resource allocation ends the process of liquidating precatório accumulated after the approval, in 2021, of the PEC dos Precatório, which established a ceiling in the Budget for these payments.

The first installment of the 2024 court orders, worth R$32.2 billion, had already been paid previously with resources from 2022 and 2023, totaling R$60.2 billion, through Provisional Measure (MP) 1,200/23. The MP also included R$714 million in employer contributions related to court orders.