Agência Brasil

Brasília - The minister of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Patrus Ananias, and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, signed a US$ 1 billion loan agreement in Washington, on Monday (24), for the Family Grant program. The goal of the program is to combat hunger and extreme poverty and promote the independence of the country's poorest families. Through the Family Grant, the federal government pays monthly cash benefits to families with monthly per capita incomes of up to US$ 40.

According to the ministry, around US$ 984.3 million of the loan will be spent on the enlargement of the Family Grant and its integration with the Program for the Erradication of Child Labor (Peti). The remainder should be used to fund activities of the National Secretariat of Social Assistance and evaluate and monitor the income transfer programs.

Translation: David Silberstein