Coronavirus

DISCLAIMER: An editorial decision

In a televised speech, President Jair Bolsonaro announced funds to states of the Northeast, seeking to curb the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak in Brazil’s most impoverished region. 

We at The Brazilian Report, however, have taken an editorial stance: we will no longer publish figures announced by the government before thoroughly scrutinizing them. Brazil’s federal administration has been less than fully transparent about the money it will spend to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 crisis in Brazil.

Last week, the Economy Ministry announced that it would dedicate BRL 147.3 billion to help businesses and low-income individuals. But, as reporter Natália Scalzaretto showed, only BRL 31.8 billion of the full total was actually “new money.”

Over the weekend, the National Development Bank announced another BRL 55 billion to the effort, but the figures were lower than advertised. They included BRL 20 billion to support workers—but which had already been announced before.

Gustavo Ribeiro

An award-winning journalist, Gustavo has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics and international affairs. He has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets and founded The Brazilian Report in 2017. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science and Latin American studies from Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris.

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