Bolsonaro: Emergency allowance to return in March

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on his Thursday live broadcast on social media (Feb. 25) stated that the value of the new emergency allowance to be proposed by the government to Congress will be $45.78. Payments, he said, should start in March and continue for four months.

The four complementary months, the president added, are expected to make “the economy get back on track.” “Our indebtedness capacity is at its limit, I believe. And here’s another four months. We’ll see whether the economy will be back on track for good now,” he declared.

The new emergency allowance should replace the allowance paid over the course of last year in a bid to curb the effects of the pandemic of COVID-19 on the poorer portions of the population and informal workers.

Originally, the emergency allowance in 2020 included monthly payments of $109.89 and $219.78 (for mothers who are the heads of their families) to each beneficiary. Designed to last three months, the benefit was extended to a total of five installments.

In September last year, the so-called emergency allowance extension of $54.94 ($109.89 for mothers who are the heads of their families) was introduced, with the payment of four monthly installments. The last payment of the benefit was made late in January.

Approximately 67 million people have been reached by the initiative.