Numbers of the week: Nov. 9, 2019

This is Brazil by the Numbers, a weekly digest of the most interesting figures tucked inside the latest news about Brazil. Random numbers that help explain what is going on in Brazil. This week: The future of small towns, a disappointing pre-salt oil auction, the Supreme Court’s decision of the year, a better expectation for 2020’s GDP, the boom of extreme poverty, Bolsonaro’s link to Marielle’s case. 

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1,217 towns

Is the number of Brazilian towns that may be made extinct if Congress approves the Federative Pact amendment presented by the Jair Bolsonaro administration this week, according to the National Municipalities Confederation (CNM). The bill is one of the three proposes included in the “Mais Brasil” (More Brasil) plan, considered as the most ambitious revamp of the Brazilian state since the 1988 Constitution. The goal is to redefine the financial relations between states, municipalities and the Union, promoting more checks and balances to ensure fiscal responsibility. The extinction of municipalities is one of the most controversial topics, especially on the verge of the 2020 municipal elections. Learn more about the plan here.

The proposal says that towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants that fail to collect at least 10 percent of its revenues through tax shall be integrated into nearby cities with better financial conditions. Per CNM, if these criteria were extended to all of Brazil’s 5,568 municipalities, 82 percent would not meet the tax collection requirements. While there’s no projection of savings from this measure, it is expected to be large, as it would significantly reduce the number of municipal civil...