The government will be able to trigger the war protocol, with a special budget that includes exceptions to the spending cap, if the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said today (15th). In a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto, he declared that Brazil had recovered from the covid-19 pandemic and that it is more prepared than other countries.
According to the minister, the constitutional amendment that created the new fiscal framework, enacted by Congress last year, created the possibility for the country to activate a budget supplied with extraordinary credits (outside the spending ceiling) in calamity situations. First used in 2020, at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, the tool was called the War Budget.
“We are ready. We have the war protocol all prepared, we have the PEC [ Proposta de Emenda à Constituição] Emergency [novo marco fiscal], we have the emergency button, we have the exception to the ceiling if need be. We are prepared for any war”, declared the minister during the launch of economic measures for the rural sector and for the foreign exchange market.
Guedes pointed out that Brazil has recovered from the impacts of the pandemic and is doing better than other countries, having practically zeroed the public sector’s primary deficit (negative result without public debt interest) last year. According to him, the country is “ready for another fight”, with the possibility of expanding spending beyond the ceiling in the event of a new world war.
“Brazil is tough when it comes down: it fell, got up, is on its feet, has already shaken and is better dressed than the people out there. We have a zero deficit. We’re ready for another fight. If the Second World War comes, we are ready again, we will expand again, because we have zero deficit”, declared Guedes.
clarifications
In a conversation with journalists after the ceremony, the minister clarified that Brazil does not want to enter into any war. Regarding the speech about World War II, he said he referred to the “world war of the pandemic”, of a sanitary nature, and the global rise in grain, oil and fertilizers after the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The minister pointed out that Brazil voted at the United Nations (UN) against the occupation of part of Ukraine by the Russians. “We are super saddened by this invasion business,” he declared.
