Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro's pension reform enters Congress – 24/04/2019

The project of pension reform in Brazil, with which President Jair Bolsonaro his credibility is jeopardized in the markets, he pbaded his first legislative test on Tuesday during his statement eligible by a committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

After a tense session more than nine hours, the Commission for the Constitution and Justice (CCJ) endorsed, by 48 votes to 18, and 0 abstentions, this project aimed at start balancing the deficit public accounts of the leading Latin American economy.

The Constitution and Justice Commission has been the first obstacle to the reform proposed by Bolsonarowhich sets stricter rules for access to the current pension system, which would then be replaced by an individual capitalization plan.

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The government aims to generate a net saving more than R $ 1.16 trillion (approximately $ 300,000 million to the current change) in a decade.

MP Marcelo Freitas, an instructor and member of the Liberal Social Party (PSL), which was Bolsonaro's election platform, defended the constitutionality of the project and argued, in line with the government, that This is the "only alternative" end Brazil's chronic budget deficit.

It must now be approved by a special committee, which will badyze it in detail, before sending it to the plenary of the Chamber; there you should have a three-fifths majority of seats, in double votebecause it's a constitutional amendment.

Then these procedures must be repeated in the Senate.

The architect of this project, the Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes, press to finish everything in the first half.

The first step of this Tuesday came after the government agreed to change four points, benefiting certain categories, to obtain the support of the bloc formed by a dozen conservative parties (the "centrao") which provided Bolsonaro with vital electoral support.

As in previous sessions, the opposition, with several left-center and center parties, including the Workers Party (PT) and the Trabalhista Democratic Party (PDT), tried a new postponement, such as the one that had raised doubts the last week. the political articulation capacity of the government and caused a stock market crash.

Much of the controversy revolved around the opposition's demand for the publication of the studies on which the project was conducted. The government promised to do this by sending the text to the Special Commission.

The draft constitutional amendment establishes a minimum age of 62 for women and 65 for men to retire.

The proposal also provides that Brazilians wishing to retire with a full pension should contribute 40 years to the system and it increases 15 to 20 years the contribution period to receive the minimum benefit.

Brazil is one of the few countries not to set a minimum age for retirement. The current system allows women who have been in retirement for 30 years and men who have been doing so for 35 years, with no minimum age, although the amount of benefits increases for those who extend their working lives.

Source: AFP and EFE