Government Issues Measure Releasing R$5 Billion to Contain Coronavirus

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The federal government issued Provisional Measure 924/2020, providing an extraordinary credit of R$5.09 (US$1.27) billion in favor of the Ministries of Health and Education to face the public health crisis caused by the new coronavirus.

The Provisional Measure was published on Friday’s special edition of the Federal Gazette (DOU).

Of the total, R$4.81 billion will be allocated to the National Health Fund, R$20 million to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, R$204 million to the Brazilian Hospital Services Company and R$57 million to the Hospital de Clínicas in Porto Alegre.

The measure is the result of a compromise signed between the government and Congress in a meeting between Senate President Davi Alcolumbre, the Chamber’s Rodrigo Maia, and party leaders with the President of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Netto, and the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.

According to the agreement, the resources released through the Provisional Measure will result from amendments whose expenses would be determined by congressmen.

As this is an extraordinary credit, the amount is out of the spending ceiling’s reach, a rule that limits the increase of expenses by a rate greater than inflation.

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