Ministry admits blockade, but says Gas Aid will be paid

aid

Government had to contingency resources due to the spending ceiling

The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS) confirmed this Saturday (5) the blocking of funds previously budgeted to pay for the Gas Aid, one of the government’s social programs. The folder, however, denied the interruption in the payment of the benefit.

The blocking of funds for the Gas Aid was informed to the National Congress by means of a decree, on July 28, and revealed this week by the newspaper The State of S. Paulobased on a survey by Associação Contas Abertas, dedicated to monitoring public spending.

The government was forced to set aside resources due to the limit established by the 2023 spending ceiling, which is still in effect. The total amount blocked is R$ 1.5 billion. The temporary cut reaches ten folders, and Health and Education correspond to half of the amounts retained.

In the case of the MDS, R$ 144 million were set aside. The folder said it had rearranged the budget so as not to affect payments for social programs. In the case of Auxílio Gás, the ministry stated that the blocked expense “will only be implemented in the month of December”, and that by then the expectation is that all amounts will be released.

“If the unblocking of the Federal Budget is insufficient, the MDS will reallocate resources from other discretionary actions to guarantee the payment of the Gas Aid, fulfilling the directive of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of making federal resources reach those who most it needs”

says the MDS note.

Today, Auxílio Gás is a program that works as an adjunct to Bolsa Família and is paid every two months, in the amount of a gas cylinder. In April, for example, the amount paid was R$ 110 for 5.7 million families, according to MDS data.

The spending block may also be revised if the new fiscal framework is definitively approved in Congress, with which the government intends to replace the spending cap rules, which were approved in 2016, in the government of Michel Temer.

The new fiscal framework has already been approved in the Chamber, but is now being reanalyzed by the deputies after the text has undergone changes in the Senate.

*With information from Agência Brasil

Read more:

PF arrests prospector suspected of shooting indigenous people in Yanomami TI

Universities can combine traditional and academic knowledge

Second part of Tax Reform will try to place rich people on Income Tax