São Paulo – Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff edited on Thursday (27) Provisory Measure 598 which makes available R$ 46.9 billion (US$ 23 billion) referring to the 2013 budget for ministries and state-owned companies. The funds will be used for essential projects and works that are in progress not to be interrupted by lack of credit. The 2013 budget has not yet been approved and will only be voted by the National Congress in February, when parliament returns from its recess.
The measure was disclosed on Wednesday (27) in an extraordinary edition of the Official Gazette. The government should use the funds for payment of rural insurance, draining works, paving of roads and construction and reworks of federal highways, as is the case with the BR 101 in Espírito Santo, the BR 156 in Amapá and two roads in Rio Grande do Sul. Apart from this spending, R$ 700 million (US$ 350 million) will be turned to 18 projects whose cost was relative to 2012.
According to information disclosed by Agência Brasil, the minister of Planning, Miriam Belchior, said that the government issued the measure “for the continuation of important projects not to be jeopardized”.
Belchior also said that the budget should probably be approved in February as there is an agreement between congressional leaders for the voting to take place soon after the choice of the presidents of the Lower House and Senate. However, said the minister, the government “must work considering all sceneries.”
If the measure had not been issued and the budget is not voted soon after the end of the recess period, expenses for next year would be covered along with the remains to be paid regarding 2012, as is forecasted in the law. These funds come from payments that have already been made available, but that have not yet been disbursed.
*Translated by Mark Ament
