Brasilia, 2/9/2006 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - In a formal ceremony today, ministers Jaques Wagner, the head of the Secretariat for Institutional Relations, and Luiz Marinho, Labor, will deliver the new minimum wage bill to the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL). The handover means that the government officially intends to raise the minimum wage on April 1, from R$300 to R$350. The bill also contains clauses adjusting income tax brackets by 8%. The bill must be approved by Congress before president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can sign it into law.

Translation: Allen Bennett