Bolsonaro announces social program amid election year
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who aspires to re-election this year, announced a plan on Thursday to inject more than 150 billion reais (28 billion francs) into the economy, for the poorest.
Jair Bolsonaro to Brasília on March 17, 2022.
AFP
The program aims to “increase the purchasing power of Brazilians, especially those with low incomes,” the presidency said in a statement. The measures include the advance payment of a salary supplement (13th month) for retirees, the authorization to use the resources of a workers’ guarantee fund reserved for cases of dismissal or exceptional situations, and access to credits.
This should inject “more than 150 billion reais into the country’s economy”, the government said.
In power since January 2019, the far-right president is suffering a sharp erosion of his popularity, partly because of his management of the pandemic which has already killed more than 655,000 people in Brazil, but above all because of inflation. high.
In February, the inflation rate was 10.54%, resulting in a reduction in the purchasing power of wages, especially for the poorest. The war in Ukraine has aggravated the situation, causing an increase in the international price of oil and its derivatives.
Faced with this situation, the Brazilian public company Petrobras announced last week an 18.8% increase in the price of gasoline and 24.9% in that of diesel, a measure strongly criticized by Bolsonaro.
Against Lula?
The president will run for a second term in October, probably against the former left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), favorite in the polls.
In an attempt to curb rising prices, the Central Bank of Brazil raised its key rate again this week to 11.75%, its highest value since April 2017.
Latin America’s largest economy overcame a brief recession in the last quarter and ended 2021 with 4.6% growth compared to 2020, when it suffered the greatest impact from the coronavirus pandemic. But for 2022, forecasts are for growth of just 0.49%.
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