Brasília, September 1, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Today, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva refuted criticisms that the 2004 Budget will reduce resources in the social area, especially in the Zero Hunger Program. President spokesman André Singer presented figures showing that the projected allocation of resources for the social area in 2004 is greater than in the past two years. According to Singer, the allocation of resources for the social area next year rose R$ 7 billion, from R$ 35 billion to R$ 42 billion.

As for the Zero Hunger Program, Singer observed that investments on income transfer programs in 2002 amounted to R$ 4.3 billion, as against only R$ 2.6 billion in 2001. This represents an increase in the funds allocated to income transfer programs, the rubric that covers the Zero Hunger program, he emphasized, recalling that resources for the Zero Hunger Program are already included among the R$ 5.3 billion allocated for the unification of income transfer programs.

"The President said that the only way to increase the Budget would to raise the tax burden. Since the Administration does not want to raise taxes, it produced a realistic Budget with the resources that are available, so that it would not be necessary to freeze funds next year. Even so, the social area was assigned priority," Singer affirmed. (DAS)