The return of the Bolsa Família program in 2023 is the priority of the team of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who has been working on the transition between governments since last Thursday (3). Led by vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), the group has held meetings with members of the current administration, as well as leaders from the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, to discuss ways to maintain payments of R$ 600 in 2023.

The focus at this first moment is to guarantee the resources to fulfill the campaign promises that Lula made in recent months.

With the search for the election, the PT not only committed to continuing the Auxílio Brasil of R$ 600, which will be renamed Bolsa Família, but also to paying an additional R$ 150 to families with children aged 0 to 6 and the readjustment of the minimum wage above inflation in 2023.

The return of the Bolsa Família program, which has been a milestone for PT administrations, should maintain the current 21 million beneficiaries, but the value needs to change. Currently, the expected value of Auxílio Brasil in 2023 is R$ 405, according to the budget communicated by the Ministry of Economy in August.

The current government has set aside R$ 105 billion for payment of the benefit in 2023, enough to cover the minimum installments of R$ 400.

To maintain the benefit at R$ 600, a temporary amount that ends in December, Lula's team is considering sending a transition PEC to the National Congress to raise R$ 58 billion for the additional payment of R$ 200 and guarantee another R$ 18 million to finance the additional aid of R$ 150 per child.

It is estimated by the party that 8.8 billion children will be entitled to the extra benefit in 2023. 

If the constitutional amendment proposal (PEC) is approved, the new Bolsa Família could pay around R$ 750 to families in 2023.

The leader of the PT in the Chamber, deputy Reginaldo Lopes, defended that spending on the program be removed from the spending ceiling to “Break the cycle of poverty”.

“Those who voted for Bolsonaro defended R$ 600. Those who voted for President Lula defended R$ 600. Everyone said it would be R$ 600. (…) You are saying that the fiscal responsibility law has to take social goals into account. It is the beginning of a debate on the articulation between fiscal responsibility law and social goals“, said the deputy.

The new look of the program should be prepared by the government team and announced at the beginning of 2023. However, the Lula government is expected to maintain the income criteria updated by President Jair Bolsonaro at the end of 2021. 

Therefore, the families that will be entitled to receive Bolsa Família in 2023 are those in the following situations:

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