The renegotiation of debts of rural producers with public banks is facing difficulties due to lack of budget, according to Finance Minister Eduardo Guardia. “We do not have budget allocations today to support this additional expenditure,” he said Tuesday in Brasília.
According to Agência Brasil, renegotiation is provided for in Law 13,606, which establishes the so-called Rural Tax Regularization Program, which seeks to renegotiate debts with the Rural Workers’ Assistance Fund (Funrural), which provides for the payment of debts and special conditions payment. In addition to the debts with Funrural, the law provides for the possibility of renegotiating debts with public banks.
President Michel Temer even vetoed the bill partially on the grounds that some parts of the bill were at odds with the proposed fiscal adjustment, but vetoes were overturned by Congress.
With the overthrow of vetoes, family farmers were able to repackage their debts with Banco do Brasil, Banco do Nordeste and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). They will also have more deadlines to settle debts, for example, with the Development Offices of the Northeast (Sudene) and the Amazon (Sudam).
The subsidies will be financed by the National Treasury. “This requires budgetary allocation,” said the finance minister. “We can only go ahead with what has been approved as long as we have a budget.” This is a basic issue, we can not authorize expenditure without corresponding budget allocation, and we do not have a specific allocation for that, “he added. Asked when there should be recourse for this purpose, Guardia said, “the discussion is ongoing.” In a statement, the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) reported that it warned of the need to include R $ 1.4 billion to support these renegotiations.
The CNA added that it advocates that there be a supplementary budget. For this, it is necessary that the Executive sends to the Legislature a Draft Law of the National Congress (PLN), which must be approved in the Budget Committee and then in session of the National Congress. According to the entity, the information about the need for these resources have already been demanded from the financial agents by the National Treasury Secretariat.