Northeastern state secretaries criticize renegotiation plan.

Pernambuco 247 - Meeting in Recife, finance secretaries from the Northeast criticized the outcome of the bill dealing with the renegotiation of state debts with the federal government. The Northeastern states will request financial assistance from the federal government. According to the Finance Secretary of Pernambuco, Marcelo Barros, "the most indebted states are receiving preferential treatment. Three of them (Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, and Minas Gerais) will have the benefit of not having to pay their debt for the next 36 months."

The Chamber of Deputies approved, this Tuesday (20), the renegotiation of the debt, but removed from the text requirements such as increasing the social security contribution of civil servants to 14%, suspending salary increases and the holding of public competitions, privatization of companies and the reduction of tax incentives. These obligations would have to be met by the Federation units that request assistance from the federal government to clean up their finances.

"That's R$ 49 million that will no longer be paid. But the states that organized themselves and did their homework don't have this benefit. So, what do they gain?", said Barros, who received his colleagues from Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Sergipe, and Ceará.

According to the minister, the initial renegotiation agreement provided for R$ 14 billion in aid to be distributed among all states. Pernambuco was supposed to receive R$ 1 billion. "Now, we will receive nothing," he added.

Representative André Horta from Rio Grande do Norte stated that the renegotiation only benefits states that have declared financial emergency and that the northeastern states do not want to have to reach that point to receive special conditions from the federal government. "We are not against aid to these states, but we want the government to also help us so that everyone doesn't end up in the same situation as these states," he emphasized.

Last week, the federal government had agreed to allow the states most affected by the economic crisis, such as Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Rio Grande do Sul, to suspend debt payments to the federal government and resume receiving funds that had been blocked by the federal government. However, the states would have had to fulfill a series of conditions that were overturned in the vote by the Chamber of Deputies.

The special fiscal recovery regime was included in the bill for the renegotiation of state debt, which extends the debt of the federative units for 20 years. The inclusion of the amendment by the Senate sent the text back to the Chamber of Deputies, which would have to ratify the changes.

*With information from Agência Brasil