Under Lula, pix amendments almost doubled in value – 06/21/2023 – Panel SA

In five months of government, President Lula witnessed the transfer of R$ 6.6 billion from the Union Budget directly to deputies and senators, through the so-called pix amendments. The value is almost double (94%) of the busy last year.

Budget data show that, between January and May, 8,327 amendments were paid, totaling R$ 6.6 billion. In 2022, the number of operations was 8,191 and BRL 3.4 billion were allocated to congressmen.
In 2021, it was R$ 2 billion and, in 2020, R$ 621.2 million.

This growth occurred because, until the end of last year, many of the pix amendments were part of the secret budget, overturned by the Federal Supreme Court last year.

That is: as they were not accounted for as transfers to states and municipalities, it is possible that the figure for previous years was much higher.

The model is criticized for its lack of transparency, as it enables transfers without the need to enter into an agreement or contract.

In the early 2010s, Caixa was the main onlending agent. At the time, the bank concentrated the execution of around 70% of the Budget. Resources were stamped (for certain projects) and only dripped into the recipient’s account as the work was carried out.

At that moment, the General Secretariat of the Government received a request for Caixa to regain prominence in these transfers — less because of the volume of revenue that this intermediation generates and more because of the control of expenses.

However, given the government’s difficulty in gaining support in Congress, the issue is not a priority.

With Diego Felix

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