Brazil may vote on the pension reform by March this year, says Temer

In an interview to a Brazilian radio station, the President of the Republic Michel Temer, said that the National Congress will vote the pension reform proposal in February and that the bill should be concluded by mid March. On the occasion, he reinforced that deputies and senators will pass the reform if the population is convinced that the changes to the rules are important.

“We're doing a very soft reform, which is to ensure that civil servants and retirees do not have cuts in their pensions" said Temer, as he pointed out that the pension deficit in 2017 reached R$ 268 billion. The president explained that points like restrictions related to rural pensions and the Continued Care Benefit (BPC) have been removed.

During the interview this Wednesday morning (31), Temer also talked about passing the spending cap bill, the high school reform and the renegotiation of states' debt. "For a long time, a review of states' debt vis-à-vis the federal government has been thought of. As soon as we took office, we made an agreement with governors", he recalled. In the state of Bahia, investments in the metro system were example of actions favouring mobility and citizenship.