“PT is masterminding the apocalypse of the spending hole”, says senator

Senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) criticized this Tuesday (16) the attempt by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to review the fiscal target scheduled for 2025, which becomes a zero deficit instead of a surplus of 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The review takes place just over seven months after the sanction of the fiscal framework, the government’s new fiscal regime.

“The government promises zero deficit and delivers bluntly, promises again, bluntly again. It ends the spending cap, promises austerity – and breaks the budget”, wrote the senator on the X network.

Nogueira also added that “the PT government is engineering the apocalypse of the spending gap”. “It will be PT: Total Loss!”, he said.

The term “macetando” used by the senator refers to a song by singer Ivete Sangalo and a satire made by her during the 2024 Carnival.

The revision of the fiscal target was presented by the government within the 2025 Budget Guidelines Law (PLDO) project, a kind of preview of next year’s Budget, sent to Congress this Monday.

The change in fiscal targets delays fiscal adjustment and worsens the trajectory of public debt, an indicator closely monitored by the financial market, and which is on the rise.

According to the government’s economic team, the public sector’s gross debt should be finalized by the end of 2026, at 79.1% of GDP. This corresponds to an increase of more than seven percentage points throughout the PT administration – in December 2022, at the end of Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) government, the debt was 71.7% of GDP.