Bruno Bocchini
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo – Through its social programs, the federal government hopes, by the end of 2006, to reach all the families that subsist at or below the poverty line. This target was announced yesterday (23), in Campinas (SP), by the minister of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Patrus Ananias.

According to Ananias, studies by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2000 revealed that there were 11.2 million families living in conditions of poverty at that time. The minister said that updated information is currently being prepared.

"Today we are already taking care of 8.7 million families, and it is president Lula's wish that by the end of 2006, if not before, we extend the benefits to the families that are still not being covered."

Ananias is visiting cities in the interior of the state of São Paulo to accompany the implementation of social programs that receive federal government funds.

Translation: David Silberstein