Minister signals possible adjustment to servers amid tight budget

Minister Esther Dweck, of Management and Innovation in Public Services, signaled that she can grant a readjustment to Brazilian public servants this year even with budget limitations, a veto on parliamentary amendments and the need for the government to increase revenue to meet the fiscal target of closing the gap of public accounts.

According to the minister, the government even made official a proposal for a 9% increase in salaries in two installments in 2025 and 2026, but with an increase in food, health and daycare benefits in 2024. However, she sees that it may be possible anticipate the adjustment for later this year.

“If you are meeting the primary result target and have excess revenue, we could have an expansion in expenditure of up to R$15 billion this year. It is already agreed with the ministers who make up the Budget Execution Board, that part of this would be [usada] for a readjustment of servers this year”, he said in an interview with Metropolises published this Friday (26).

However, Esther Dweck highlighted that this adjustment is still just a possibility, as there is no fiscal space at the moment “in view of several priorities that the government has”. Among them, she says, are the recovery of the education and health floor and the real increase in the minimum wage.

Esther Dweck acknowledged that the budget is limited and that there is an effort by the government to meet the fiscal target, and that “everyone has to help the IRS to collect revenue so that we can, in fact, have an adjustment this year”. “We will not be able to repair the loss that occurred during the Temer and Bolsonaro governments”, she pointed out.

However, he stated that the readjustment of benefits was possible to offset some of these losses, since “they were far behind in relation to other powers and it is a value that comes in completely net for people. She comes in without any kind of discount.”

The minister also stated that almost half of public servants will have an increase above inflation due to the readjustment of benefits. “Not an increase in salary, but an increase in income, what they will receive from government resources, which was our logic”, she added.