Speaker says no to wage rises promised by Bolsonaro

House Speaker Arthur Lira. Photo: Zeca Ribeiro/CD/CC-BY 4.0

House Speaker Arthur Lira said on Thursday that “there is no fiscal space” to give wage raises to civil servants — which President Jair Bolsonaro promised just two days ago, as an incentive for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment bill capping court-ordered debt repayments and freeing up space in the budget.

“I don’t see this space at all. I don’t know about this space. [The budget forecasts] the government showed to the House don’t include this wage bump,” Mr. Lira said. “I think expenses which have already been budgeted must be honored.”

Today, President Bolsonaro finished a diplomatic visit around the Middle East, where he first mentioned wage rises for federal servants. “Inflation has hit double digits. I spoke with [Economy Minister] Paulo Guedes, and after passing the proposal, there has to be a small space to give some raises. It’s not all that [civil servants] deserve, but it is what we can give then,” Mr. Bolsonaro stated, during a business event in Bahrain on Monday.

Janaína Camelo

Janaína Camelo has been a political reporter for ten years, working for multiple media outlets. More recently, she worked for the presidency's press service and is now specializing in data journalism.