Rui Costa says there is “no possibility” of increasing public spending

The Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, stated this Friday (3) that there is no possibility of increasing public spending. According to him, regardless of the government’s decision on the 2024 fiscal target, the increase without expenses is not possible due to the rules provided for in the new fiscal framework.

“There is no possibility, regardless of the debate on the target, there is no possibility of increasing public spending, neither investment nor funding… I saw some articles trying to create a counterpoint between a part of the government that is a spender and another that is a saver. There is no debate, there is no dichotomy because there is no possibility of increasing spending because the framework does not allow it regardless of the target issue,” said Costa.

During a ministerial meeting, this Friday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) defended that his ministers invest the resources allocated to the ministries in infrastructure works, and that they not create new projects beyond those that have already been proposed throughout this year. Costa highlighted that Lula demanded efficiency with expenses and that his statement at the meeting had “absolutely nothing to do with increasing public spending”.

“What the president said today, what he wants is the efficiency of public spending… Which has absolutely nothing to do with increasing public spending. I want to make it very clear because the budget is given, the planning was done, the investments that would be made and there will be no change in the investments that would be made due to the decision to invest more, because the framework is given and it limits public spending”, he pointed out. .

According to Costa, the government has not yet reached a decision on a possible change in the fiscal target. Last week, the president stated that the market is “greedy” and that it will be difficult to meet the fiscal target of zero deficit established by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. “Until then, we will not talk about this topic [mudança da meta] until the government has a position”, said the Minister of the Civil House.