The draft legislative decree with relief measures for Rio Grande do Sul, signed by the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on the afternoon of this Monday (6), represents a first step towards “joint actions” to be taken by the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary in the midst of the climate tragedy that is plaguing the state of the Southern Region, according to the Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet (MDB). But the federal government still does not have an estimate for the volume of resources needed.
In a press conference shortly after Lula signed the piece of legislation, Tebet reinforced that the instrument, if approved by the National Congress, authorizes the federal government to create “exceptionalities” in the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF) and in the new fiscal framework to take measures swift actions in support of subnational entities affected by the heavy rains and floods caused in recent days.
Despite the greater flexibility, the minister assured that the fiscal target of zero deficit for the year, as provided for in the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) of 2024, is maintained. “The fiscal target is maintained until the end of the year. We can use resources from the federal budget outside the spending limit and outside the fiscal target solely and exclusively for Rio Grande do Sul and for specific cases of public calamity: the road, the bridge, the health center, the reform of the daycare, a possible line of financing and incentives for the resumption of the productive sector, something also focused on people who lost their homes”, he said.
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“This is outside the spending limit and fiscal target. Which gives us the comfort of saying: exactly why the 2024 fiscal target remains valid”, he continued.
In addition to producing “exceptionalities” regarding fiscal rules, the minister highlighted that the draft legislative decree removes “practically all bureaucratic constraints” for the process of transferring federal resources to affected entities by waiving a series of legal requirements for contracts and tenders. .
“This decree gives us legal certainty, transparency and control over public spending. It is a decree limited, not only to the state of Rio Grande do Sul and its impacted municipalities, but also these exceptions, from then on, specifically for actions relating to the public calamity. All of them”, he highlighted.
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According to Tebet, the PDL would eliminate the need to approve the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC), as was being discussed in the Federal Senate. To journalists, she argued that this approach is supported by precedents set during the Covid-19 pandemic and guarantees greater agility in taking the first measures.
“There is no longer a need for a PEC, as happened in the past. Because the pandemic crisis protocol, given that moment, allowed us not only to edit a Constitutional Amendment but also to change at that moment the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and we resembled the state of public calamity to the cases of State of Siege and State of Defense for the purpose of exceptionalities”, he explained.
“So, with this legislative decree, which is the umbrella, we will be able to issue many other acts: a possible provisional measure with extraordinary credits, a negotiation between the Ministry of Finance and the state governor in relation to debt, in relation to incentives and benefits for the productive sectors and also for the population that was affected”, he added.
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Although he did not indicate an estimate of the amount that could be allocated to help Rio Grande do Sul, Tebet highlighted that the design sent via draft legislative decree allows the maintenance of the ongoing fiscal policy.
“As of this legislative decree, any benefit, incentive or expenditure that we may make with the state is outside the spending limit of the federal budget and outside the fiscal targets. [do Rio Grande do Sul] and the municipalities [afetados pela catástrofe]. From now on, we will await the demands of city halls, the state government and mainly the city of Porto Alegre, which was hit hard, and also from sectoral ministries. We will wait for the necessary Budget from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport, which, obviously, are carrying out a survey”, he stated.
“We don’t even have an estimate of how much will be needed. This will all come, let’s put a magnifying glass on these values, to make it very clear that not just anything counts as extraordinary credit. Some things will be included in the Budget − that is, they will impact the [resultado] primary, will impact the spending limit if specific actions for public calamity are not considered”, he reinforced.
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According to the minister, not even city halls have the dimension of how much resources they will need to deal with the damage caused by the biggest climate catastrophe in the history of Rio Grande do Sul. She said that only when “the water recedes” will it be possible to have clarity the necessary aid for the reconstruction of the affected areas and assistance to the affected population.
