Brazil: Emergency Aid is extended until December

There will be four more instalments of the benefit, in the amount of R $ 300.00 each

The Emergency Aid is aimed at informal, self-employed workers, individual and unemployed micro-entrepreneurs - Photo: Agência Brasil

Sep 1, President Jair Bolsonaro announced the extension of Emergency Aid until December. The value of each of the four additional instalments will be R $ 300. The news was announced after the President's meeting with ministers and parliamentarians, at the Palácio da Alvorada.

The extension will be made through a Provisional Measure. "The amount defined just now [at the meeting] is just over 50% of Bolsa Família. So, we decided here, even taking into account the economy over fiscal responsibility, fixed at 300 reais", announced the President.

Emergency Aid is aimed at informal, self-employed workers, individual micro-entrepreneurs and unemployed people who face the economic effects caused by the new coronavirus. The benefit began to be paid in April in three instalments in the amount of R $ 600. In June, it was extended by two more instalments of R $ 600. The woman who is a mother and head of the family may receive R $ 1,200 for a month.

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes stressed during the announcement that the government of President Jair Bolsonaro left no one behind during this Covid-19 period. "The government base and the President reached two important decisions. One, to extend this layer of protection to the Brazilian population. [Two,] within our idea of ​​what is possible to do with the resources that we have, to extend for four months the amount of R $ 300 of emergency assistance. And, importantly, signalling the resumption of reforms for the future. Administrative reform is important ”, said Guedes.

Effects of aid on income generation and poverty reduction

A study by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) released last Thursday (27) points out that about 4.4 million (6.5%) of Brazilian households survived, in July, only with the income from Emergency Aid. Among the poorest households, incomes reached 124% of what they would be with usual incomes.

The benefit reached 80% of the poorest households in the country and increased the income of families in the Northeast by more than 23%, according to research by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In addition, it has reduced extreme poverty to the lowest level in 40 years in the country. Among the 19.2 million people covered by Bolsa Família, the average benefit jumped from R $ 190 to at least R $ 600.

Administrative Reform

The President also announced that the Administrative Reform should be sent to the National Congress on Thursday (03). “The (...) Administrative Reform, which is very clear, will not affect any of the current employees. It will apply only to future civil servants who are tendered ”, he stressed.

The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, reinforced that the reform will be for future employees and redefines the trajectory for the coming years. “As the President made clear from the beginning, it does not affect the rights of current public servants. But it redefines the entire trajectory of public service for the future, a quality public service, with meritocracy, demanding competitions, promotion by merit. So, it is important because we are not only looking at the Brazilian population in the short term, but the entire political class thinking about the future of the country and implementing the reforms ”.