Almost a month after approval by Congress, the 2023 General Budget of the Union was sanctioned today (17) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and published in an extraordinary edition of the Official Gazette. The text had only one veto to an article that would create a new budget identification for the BRL 145 billion outside the ceiling authorized by the Constitutional Amendment of the Transition.
According to the justification text, the veto was requested by the Ministry of Planning and Budget. The folder argued that the creation of a separate identification would increase the rigidity and inefficiency of the Budget.
Approved by Congress on December 22, on the last day of the legislative year, the 2023 Budget was only voted after the agreement that allowed the approval of the Constitutional Amendment of the Transition, which authorized the spending of up to R$ 145 billion beyond the ceiling, plus investments of BRL 23 billion if there is excess revenue.
The Budget establishes a forecast for a primary deficit – a negative result in government accounts without public debt interest – of R$ 231.5 billion for the Central Government (National Treasury, Social Security and Central Bank). Last week, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, announced a package which intends to increase revenue and revise expenditures to improve public accounts and reduce the deficit to around R$ 100 billion.
Rapporteur amendments
According to the agreement between the government and Congress, the 2023 Budget redistributed the R$ 19.4 billion of the rapporteur’s amendments, considered unconstitutional by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). According to the approved text, the general rapporteur may allocate up to R$ 9.85 billion (50.44% of the total) in amendments linked to public policies. The remaining BRL 9.55 billion reinforced individual tax amendments.
The Budget does not mention the value of the minimum wage, which needs to be defined by specific law. The proposal’s rapporteur in Congress, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), allocated R$ 6.8 billion that would cover the minimum wage of R$ 1,320. However, due to the granting of extra retirements and pensions by the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) in the second half of last year, the resources are already consumed. For now, the minimum wage of R$ 1,302, defined by provisional measure in December by the previous government, continues to apply.
