Brasília, July 23, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Federal Savings Bank (CEF) begins to pay, today, readjustments in the Workers' Compensation Fund (FGTS), to compensate for losses associated with the Summer and Collor 1 plans. The beneficiaries will be the 481 thousand workers who adhered to the agreement proposed by the government and signed a document by December 31, 2002. They will now receive a total of R$ 289 million.

According to the CEF's timetable, accounts that are owed up to R$ 2 thousand will receive the full amount in one lump sum; workers who are owed between R$ 2 thousand and R$ 5 thousand will now receive the second of the 5 installments that were agreed upon; accounts that are owned between R$ 5 thousand and R$ 8 thousand will receive the first of 7 installments; and workers who are owed more than R$ 8 thousand will receive the first of 7 installments next January.

The CEF informs that 627 thousand workers entered into agreements, covering a total of 1.2 million accounts. Of these, 607 thousand accounts, for which the value of the readjustment was R$ 100 or less, have already been paid, and 110 thousand accounts (corresponding to 62 thousand adhesion agreements) presented errors in the filling out of the forms; the Bank is awaiting their owners to appear to confirm the information that was provided. (DAS)