Haddad and Rui Costa disagree on the Lula government’s fiscal target

The definition of the government’s fiscal target for next year has generated disagreements among ministers of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). While the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, argues that “more time” is needed to pursue the fiscal target, the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, has criticized the zero target and pointed out that “there is no possibility of increasing public spending” .

The government’s economic team intends to define the fiscal target by March 2024, when the Executive publishes the 1st Primary Revenue and Expense Assessment Report for 2024. Haddad intends to postpone the debate to articulate in the National Congress measures that increase the Union’s revenue, and also to have accurate information about a possible budget imbalance, in addition to assessing the need or not for contingency. The information was released by Economic value.

If the Ministry of Finance achieves a longer deadline, the 2024 Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) project could be approved, without changing the deficit. However, this postponement has been criticized by minister Rui Costa and parliamentarians.

Last Wednesday (1st), Rui Costa met with the LDO rapporteur, deputy Danilo Forte (União-CE), to find out the processing calendar and the deadline needed for the government to present a modifying message changing the target Supervisor. According to an investigation by the Valuethe final opinion must be presented on November 20th and considered between November 21st and 24th.