The minimum salary of R$ 1,320, which appears in the 2023 Budget, will be negotiated with the union centrals, said the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. He did not guarantee that the new value could take effect later this month.
According to a provisional measure issued in December by the former government, the minimum wage in 2023 is at R$ 1,302. This value, according to Haddad, represents a readjustment of 1.4% above last year’s inflation.
According to the minister, there was no breach of campaign promise by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “President Lula’s commitment is a real increase [para o salário mínimo], which has already happened. The current minimum wage is 1.4% higher than the accumulated inflation since the last readjustment”, he countered.
hindrance
The increase to R$ 1,320 is under discussion because the R$ 6.8 billion allocated by the Constitutional Amendment of the Transition proved to be insufficient to pay for the increase in the benefits of the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) linked to the minimum wage. This is because the strong concession of retirements and pensions in the second half of last year created a greater impact than estimated for INSS expenses this year.
“The rapporteur [do Orçamento], after the project was forwarded to the federal government, reinforced the Ministry of Social Security’s budget by R$ 6.8 billion. But this resource was consumed by the floor of the INSS queue [redução da fila de pedidos]. From the beginning of the electoral process, the queue began to walk”, complained Haddad.
According to the minister, accelerating inclusion consumed R$ 6.8 billion. “We asked Social Security to redo the calculations, to pass them on to the negotiation table that will be opened with the unions. The president keeps his word this month and will keep his word this year [sobre a valorização do salário mínimo acima da inflação]”, added the minister.
According to preliminary calculations by the economic team, in addition to the R$ 6.8 billion, the government would need R$ 7.7 billion to finance the increase in the minimum wage to R$ 1,320 still in January. The number would be presented by the Ministry of Social Security earlier this week, but the disclosure of the impact was postponed after extremists dissatisfied with the result of the 2022 elections invaded the headquarters of the Three Powers last Sunday (8).
Part of the representatives of the economic team defends that the increase to R$ 1,320 be postponed. The final decision, however, will only come out after the negotiation between the Planalto Palace and the trade union centrals.
