Brasília, November 19, 2002 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The general reporter of the 2003 Federal Budget bill, senator Sérgio Machado (PSDB-CE), said that, based on revised estimates of inflation, there was a R$ 16.7 billion (approximately US$ 4.6 billion) gross increase in nominal revenues.

Machado explained that most of the funds already have clear destinations. Of the total, R$ 2.1 billion (approximately US$ 600 million) will go for constitutional transfers to the states and municipalities; R$ 3.2 billion (approximately US$ 910 million), to meet growing health outlays tied to nominal expansion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); R$ 4.1 billion (approximately US$ 1.2 billion), to maintain unaltered the primary surplus as a proportion of GDP; and R$ 1.7 billion (approximately US$ 480 million) for the Poverty Fund.

"Thus, R$ 5.5 billion would remain for the Congress to allocate. However, it should be observed that for every R$ 1 in extra revenue generated, only R$ 0.33 may be used to meet the programming set by the Congress," Machado said. That is, for the amendments made by the deputies and senators. (DAS)