Brazil emergency aid: Chamber president pressures Economy Minister for immediate solution

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President of the Chamber of Deputies Arthur Lira (PP-AL), on Thursday, February 11th, called on Economy Minister Paulo Guedes to find an ‘immediate’ solution for a new emergency aid within the parameters set by the federal government.

Lira spoke to the press upon reaching the Chamber and said that Congress is advancing economic reforms, with the approval of the Central Bank’s autonomy bill on Wednesday night, the sending of the administrative reform to the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) and the setting up of the Mixed Budget Committee (CMO).

According to Lira, the Emergency and Federative Pact constitutional amendment proposals (PECs) are crucial to preserve the budget within the spending cap (which prohibits federal government spending growth above inflation) and the new emergency aid should be paid complying with this rule, unless the Covid-19 situation deteriorates significantly.

Vaccines

Lira said that legislation on vaccines will be analyzed next week, aiming to increase the supply available to the population. “Let’s wait and see whether or not we will see an advance regarding vaccines, which we will address next week, so that we may immunize as many Brazilians as possible, as soon as possible,” he said.

Legislators such as government leader in the Chamber Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), have advocated modifying provisional measure (MP) 1026, which addresses “exceptional measures concerning the purchase of vaccines, supplies, and products” to fight Covid-19, to enable the purchase of other vaccines, such as the Russian Sputnik V.

Source: Valor