New PAC budget is closed, says Simone Tebet

The minister did not detail values. She just said that the budget for the works on track 1 of the housing program, which serves families with an income of up to two minimum wages, will have a “considerable budget”.

According to several builders, the current budget, of R$ 9.6 billion, is insufficient to cover the demand for Minha Casa, Minha Vida until the end of the year. Tebet, however, assured that the matter was taken into account in the meetings for the elaboration of the new PAC.

Alleging that the announcement of the value is up to the Civil House and the Ministry of Cities, the minister did not reveal values, neither for Minha Casa, Minha Vida, nor for the PAC. “I cannot say whether it will increase or remain stable. I can only say that (the budget) will not go down”, she declared. In recent interviews, the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, has said that the new PAC will have an endowment of around R$ 60 billion.

Priorities

Tebet made the statement after meeting with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, and with the president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Luciana Servo, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance. According to her, the meeting served to make an assessment of the first six months of government and to assess prospects for the second half.

For the coming months, the minister highlighted, the priorities will be the presentation of the new Multi-Year Plan and the 2024 Budget, scheduled for August 31, and the votes on projects of interest to the government in Congress: such as the new fiscal framework, the 2024 Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) and the tax reform.

Tax framework

Regarding the delay in voting on the new tax rules, postponed to August, Tebet said the tight schedule will not be a problem. This is because the Ministry of Planning is taking into account the version approved by the Senate to prepare next year’s Budget.

Because of the Senate amendments, the framework was sent back to the House to be voted on a second time. Like the LDO project, the 2024 Budget project is being prepared with certain expenses, which will appear in the text, but will be treated as fictitious until the approval of the new fiscal framework.

Limits

According to Tebet, the government has started to take the first steps towards preparing the Budget. This Friday (21), the ministries will be informed about the amount available for each folder in 2024. The minister, however, warned that there will be limits.

Part of the new framework’s fiscal space will be consumed by expenditures that need to be corrected by revenue growth, such as the constitutional minimums for spending on health and education. “At the same time that we will have a significant fiscal space, a part of it is already stamped, and the ministries will have to adapt and understand the reality of the facts, in the face of a framework and the Constitution that establishes parameters”, he highlighted.

The minister pointed out that the Budget incorporated almost all of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s promises. However, she admitted that raising the Income Tax (IR) exemption range to R$5,000 is not yet foreseen in the 2024 Budget because it depends on the vote on the tax reform. “This (the new exemption range) may enter next year as it may enter 2025, depending on another issue that will be discussed with the Ministry of Finance by the end of the year, shortly after the approval of the tax reform in the Senate”, declared Tebet.