BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes on Wednesday put up a vigorous defense of the government\u2019s proposed pension reform, insisting it is critical to fixing the country\u2019s \u201cdoomed\u201d social security system but opening the door to some concessions.FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s Economy Minister Paulo Guedes attends a meeting with Social Liberal Party (PSL) lawmakers in Brasilia, Brazil April 2, 2019. REUTERS\/Adriano Machado<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In often heated and combative exchanges with lawmakers at Brazil\u2019s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee (CCJ), Guedes said the proposals were progressive, would reduce inequality, and were urgently needed to address Brazil\u2019s \u201cinescapable\u201d fiscal problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hearing\u2019s confrontational atmosphere, however, weighed on Brazilian markets, on fears political infighting may hold up deliberations on the bill. Stocks fell 0.9 percent, the real weakened and interest rates futures rose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elmar Nascimento, lower house whip for the DEM party, the government\u2019s main ally in Congress, said in a tweet that Guedes may have to come back to the committee to fully explain what the impact of the new rules will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe government needs to intensify its efforts to convince lawmakers and the public that reforms must reduce (pension) benefits,\u201d Nascimento said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guedes recognized that proposed changes to rural, elderly and disabled workers\u2019 pensions are a sensitive issue, adding that the role of Congress would be to weigh those concerns and act on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also defended the introduction of private retirement accounts, which he called fairer and more helpful for boosting economic growth, citing the example of Chile\u2019s system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand that our system is financially doomed, no matter the government in power,\u201d Guedes told the CCJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s plans aim to save over 1 trillion reais ($260 billion) over the next decade through a range of reforms including raising the minimum retirement age and making workers contribute to the system for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bolsonaro and Guedes have been heavily criticized for not reaching out to lawmakers to build the political consensus needed to secure the bill\u2019s passage through Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guedes has tried to strike a more conciliatory tone lately, but that was not in evidence on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVenezuela\u2019s better! Venezuela\u2019s good!\u201d Guedes responded sarcastically in a heated exchange with deputies who had shouted down his praise for Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpeak up! I can\u2019t hear you!\u201d Guedes goaded ironically, before shouting and finger-pointing later in the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guedes insisted that his role in pension reform is only to put forward the proposals, not to enter the political debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government needs at least 308 of the 513 lower house deputies to approve the reforms, sending them to the Senate. A survey run by transparency group Atlas Politico on Wednesday showed that the government currently has the support of 171 deputies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes on Wednesday put up a vigorous defense of the government\u2019s proposed pension reform, insisting it is critical to fixing the country\u2019s \u201cdoomed\u201d social security system but opening the door to some concessions.FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s Economy Minister Paulo Guedes attends a meeting with Social Liberal Party (PSL) lawmakers in Brasilia, Brazil April 2,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3621,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions\/3621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}