After a lengthy delay, President Jair Bolsonaro finally signed off on this year’s federal budget last week. In order to avoid further cuts to parliamentary grants— which benefit lawmakers and the president himself — the federal administration froze BRL 9.2 billion (USD 1.68 billion) in funding to cabinet ministries and government agencies. Among the cuts, the Education Ministry was by far the most affected department, with a total of BRL 2.7 billion slashed from this year’s education budget.
While...