Government releases only part of Social Security data and predicts further austerity.
Bolsonaro and Paulo Guedes' economic team decided to release only part of the classified data that underpinned the Constitutional Amendment Proposal for Pension Reform and recalculated the public spending cuts resulting from the reform over a ten-year period; now the projection has increased from R$ 1,072 trillion to R$ 1,236 trillion.
247 - Bolsonaro and Paulo Guedes' economic team decided to release only part of the classified data that underpinned the Constitutional Amendment Proposal for Pension Reform and recalculated the public spending cuts resulting from the reform over a ten-year period. Now the projection has increased from R$ 1,072 trillion to R$ 1,236 trillion.
The government attributes the change to an alteration in the time calculation. The previous calculation projected a decade starting in 2019. In the current calculation, the government anticipates the impact of the reform on public spending starting in 2020, including the time it takes for the bill to be processed in Congress.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, the government believes that even if the proposed pension reform amendment is approved with changes, removing the most difficult items, the savings could reach around R$ 900 billion over ten years.
"The increase in the projected value has caused surprise among public accounts experts. The assessment is that the government may have included some 'padding' for political negotiation purposes, since several items of the reform will have to be negotiated in the special committee," points out the source. FSP.