What to expect from Jair Bolsonaro’s first budget?

As Congress resumes its activities this week, all eyes will be turned to the developments around the pension reform. But, as we mentioned in our August 3 Weekly Report, the bill will not be the only one in the spotlights for the remainder of 2019 in the Legislative branch. Besides a tax reform and other major sectoral laws—such as one establishing a new legal framework for basic sanitation—members of Congress will also have their plates full with the 2020 budget, the first to be submitted under president Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. 

On August 7, Congress will take an important step in this direction, as the Budget Committee meets for the first time in weeks to evaluate representative Cacá Leão’s report on the Budget Directives Law (or LDO, in Portuguese). A mandatory step to establish the budget of the following year, the LDO is usually voted on by the committee before the July recess, but according to its chairman, Senator Marcelo Castro, lawmakers struck a deal to...