:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/OB6UI6NF5RHUBCRHRQTYBTBKGQ.jpg "Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president, during the launch event of the Banco do Brasil SA Agro Investment Program at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.")
Bloomberg — Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro floated the possibility that public servants won’t receive a raise for the fourth year in a row, dismissing pressure by workers that has led to cargo holdups and work slowdowns.
“It could be that there is no adjustment for anyone,” Bolsonaro said Saturday in Brasilia. “Anything is possible,” he added, emphasizing that raises aren’t a given and pleading for “sensibility.”
Pressure for higher wages is just the latest fiscal headache for Bolsonaro, who will probably need to veto parts of the 2022 budget that was approved by Congress without enough money for mandatory expenses, according to an economy minister official familiar with the matter.
A 10% salary increase for federal public servants would cost public coffers 20 billion reais ($3.5 billion), and there’s no budget space for that, the person said, asking for anonymity as the discussion isn’t public.
