Last Wednesday, August 31, the federal government presented to the National Congress the Annual Budget Law (PLOA) project that defines the Union's expenses for the next year. In the 2023 budget, R$ 14.2 billion is foreseen for salary adjustments for federal employees, with R$ 11.6 billion for the Executive, R$ 80.2 billion for tax reductions and tax incentives such as PIS/Cofins and Cide on gasoline, ethanol and vehicle gas to reduce fuel prices.

The PLOA 2023 also stipulates that the national minimum wage will be adjusted to R$ 1,302 from January 2023, which represents an increase of R$ 90 over the current minimum wage of R$ 1,212. The increase proposed by the government is just above 7.41%, in line with the Ministry of Economy's projection for the National Consumer Price Index (INPC).

If the inflation rate is higher than expected in 2022, the government will have to review the value of the national minimum. The value proposed in the budget project foresees the adjustment of the minimum wage for the fourth consecutive year without a real increase, that is, corrected only for inflation, as provided for in the Constitution.

The value of the minimum wage is used as a reference value for the payment of various benefits, such as retirement/pension for more than 24 million INSS beneficiaries, PIS/PASEP that will be paid to employees who worked with a formal contract during the year 2021 and the BPC (Continuous Payment Benefit).

The proposal presented by the government will be processed in Congress by the Mixed Budget Committee (CMO) and, if approved, will be voted on by parliamentarians by the end of the year.

The budget project for 2023 still foresees an average ticket of R$ 405 per family per month for the year 2023. The value of the benefit does not correspond to the R$ 600 announced by President Jair Bolsonaro as a campaign promise.

In recent months, the head of the Executive stated that, if re-elected, he intends to extend the payment of the current R$ 600 to 2023. To this end, the Ministry of Economy would explore ways to cover costs without exceeding the spending ceiling, but the government will not specified where the resources will come from.

“We predict in the LOA that Auxílio Brasil will pay R$ 405, which yields more or less R$ 105 billion for this program and according to the simulations we received from the Ministry of Citizenship, in December we will reach 21.6 million families“, said Esteves Colnago, special secretary of the Treasury and Budget.

Currently, the amount of R$ 600 of Auxílio Brasil is paid to 20.2 million families in situations of poverty and extreme poverty. For 2023, the government plans to expand the program's audience to 21.6 million beneficiaries.

According to the Ministry of Citizenship's Cecad portal, July data reveals that 37 million families are registered with CadÚnico (Cadastro Único). The country currently has 19,197,806 million families living in extreme poverty, representing 52% of the population registered in CadÚnico (Cadastro Único), and another 3,306,740 million (9%) families living in poverty.

Together, the two groups form the target audience for Auxílio Brasil, a total of more than 22.5 million families who can receive the benefit, whose income can reach R$ 210 per person per month. 

Following the announcement that the average value of Auxílio Brasil would increase to R$ 600 by the end of this year, the demand for registration in the Cadastro Único increased significantly.

Together with the PLOA, the federal government sent a presidential message to talk about Auxílio Brasil. The government intends to discuss maintaining the value of R$ 600 with Congress, as a new Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) needs to be approved for the value to be extended in 2023.

“The federal government understands the relevance of public policies and the importance of continuing the increase for families benefiting from the program. With this in mind, the Executive will make efforts to seek legal solutions and budgetary measures that allow maintaining this value in 2023 through dialogue with the National Congress to meet this priority“, said the statement.

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