Economy Minister to launch “corona-voucher” for gig workers

In addition to stimulus measures announced on Tuesday, the Brazilian government plans to launch BRL 200 vouchers to financially support 18 million families of self-employed or informal workers that may require government assistance for three months. Only families that are not receiving any government aid at the moment will be eligible—and anti-fraud controls will be fiercely enforced, according to Economy Minister Paulo Guedes. 

Overall, the “corona-voucher” will cost the government BRL 15 billion and depends on Congress approving a state of calamity—to be voted on by the House today.

Declaring a state of calamity allows the government to miss its primary deficit targets for the year—of BRL 124 billion—making room for countercyclical measures, said the Economy Minister.

Correction: a previous version of this post said the government assistance program would last for four months, instead of three. This piece of information has been corrected.

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