Brasília, October 1, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Amidst the discussions about tax and Social Security reforms, today President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, together with the 27 governors, began to define the format for unifying the government's social programs. Lula won the formal support of all the states, but he did not obtain a guarantee that the governors will use state funds to finance the unification. In the face of budget constraints, only the governor of Goiás, Marconi Perillo, said that he is willing to collaborate financially.
"We are ready to collaborate with 50% of the resources," the governor of Goiás affirmed. Besides the 200 thousand families that will be served in the state through the unification, Perillo wants to guarantee that another 100 thousand families will be benefitted through the transfer of funds to Goiás. The other governors only signed a letter of commitment, in which they express their willingness to compile the local registers, as preparation for the single national register. Financial transfers will be defined according to each state's possibilities.
The governor of Ceará, Lúcio Alcântara, was one of those who praised the federal government's initiative to unify the programs, but he recalled that, without cash in the treasury, the only help the states can give is limited to the operational side. Alcântara, who is a member of the PSDB (opposition), explained that the refusal to collaborate financially does not constitute a political attitude. "It's that we really don't have money," he said.
The coordinator of the unification project, Ana Fonseca, explained that the minimum each family benefitted by the change in the income transfer system will receive is R$ 50.00. The ceiling was set at R$ 95.00, but, according to official calculations, the change will triple the average value of benefits that are paid. "The average value paid currently is R$ 24.00, and it will go to R$ 77.00; for this reason we are saying that it will triple," she informed.
The unification will consolidate the benefits paid by the Food Grant, School Grant, Gas Coupon, and Food Card programs - only the last of which was created by Lula's Administration. The four programs currently serve 10 million families, separately. The government estimates that it will save R$ 450 million through the unification of the programs. This year R$ 4.2 billion are expected to be spent to guarantee payment of the benefits. The forecast for next year is R$ 5.3 billion.
Of the total of those who receive benefits, 1.2 million homes will already be receiving under the new system on October 20. The goal for 2003 is to cover 3.6 million families under the new system. In 2005 the number of families receiving assistance will reach 12 million. The criterion for the selection of those who will be benefitted first was family income. Families whose income totals R$ 50.00 per head will be the first to receive the benefits. Unification will not jeopardize the position of families that already receive assistance. Anyone who is already receiving benefits from any of these programs has the government's assurance that he (she) will continue to receive them every month.
Ana Fonseca guaranteed that there is no danger that a family will try to receive the same benefit twice by having more than one card. According to her, all have a single register, and, when they receive benefits for the first time, all other cards they might possess become immediately invalid. The unified card will be launched by the end of the year, and it will represent the formal support given by state and municipal governments through the symbols of "little banners" of Brazil and the state and city where the beneficiary lives. (DAS)
