Brazil’s new planning minister says budget will include the poor
Senator Simone Tebet this Thursday (Jan. 5) officially took over the helm of the Ministry of Planning and Budget. In her inauguration address, the leader of the ministry recreated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the poor will be given priority treatment in the drafting of the public budget.
“The poor will be prioritized in the public budget. Very young children, elders, women, native people, people with disabilities, LGTBQIA+ people. It is high time the invisible should be made visible. We have to embrace all these priorities, keeping an eye on the public debt.”
Simone Tebet also pointed out she intends to reconcile the government’s promises and social programs with fiscal responsibility, and admitted it will not be an easy task.
“It’s a short blanket. There’s no margin for waste or mistakes. Once the priorities are defined by each ministry, it’ll be up to the Planning Ministry, in a technical and political decision made alongside other economic departments and President Lula, to bring them into line with budgetary possibilities,” she said during the ceremony.
Despite the known disagreements over economic policy she has with Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, Tebet underscored one of the points of convergence with her fellow cabinet member: the defense of a tax reform, “in waiting for years.”
“We share the vision of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, concerning the pressing need to take care of public spending and the urgent approval of a tax reform, to ensure less taxing on consumption, a less regressive tax system, with simplification and tax justice. This is the only way we can attain the necessary growth to guarantee the jobs and the income that Brazil needs,” she declared.
Background
Born in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Simone Tebet, 52, is a senator for the Brazilian Democratic Party (MDB). A lawyer and a university professor, she has been a state representative, a government secretary, vice-governor, mayor of Três Lagoas, and a senator.
In the October 2022 elections she was a presidential candidate and came 3rd in the first round, with 4.16 percent of the votes (some 5 million votes). In the second round, when she took Lula’s side, she actively participated in the campaign and played an important role in his victory.
