Spending on social security in Brazil to rise even after reform, minister says

In a statement made Thursday (Mar. 30) at the Chamber of Deputies, Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said spending on pensions and benefits under social security for both civil servants and workers in the private enterprise is likely to add up to 66.7% of the budget in 2026, even after a pension reform.

This would leave a remaining 33.3% for other costs, Meirelles argued. Without the reform, he went on, this proportion would be reduced to 21%.

“Spending on social security starts taking more and more of the federal budget, devastatingly. The reform will bring room for expenditures such as social programs [like] the Bolsa Família [conditional cash transfer program],” he said during a public hearing of the special committee deliberating on the constitutional amendment bill on the pension reform.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira