Brazil Agency Proposes Partial Govt Shutdown To Save Money
Dow Jones Newswires
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP)--A federally funded economic institute is
advocating a partial government shutdown as a way for Brazil to save
money, the Jornal do Brasil newspaper reported Sunday.
Economists with the government-run Economic Research Institute, or
IPEA, are proposing the shutdown of nonessential public services such as
embassies as a way for Brazil to contain its burgeoning public sector
deficit.
The deficit, which now stands at about 7% of the country's gross domestic
product, has been flagged as one of the most worrisome financial
indicators and the one the government must improve if it is to weather the
current financial crisis.
"Some agencies can stop for a few months," IPEA economist Francisco
das Chagas Pereira was quoted by the newspaper. Under the plan,
government workers would still receive their paychecks, but the
government would save on the costs of day-to-day operations.
According to the Institute's figures, with the partial shutdown the
government could end the year with a surplus of $8.4 billion, instead of the
$4.2 billion envisioned in an emergency decree issued by President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso at the height of the crisis.
Pereira added that in 1999 the surplus could rise to $16.4 billion, or more
than double the $7.3 billion envisioned in the budget currently before
Congress.
The advantage of the partial shutdown is that it can be done quickly and
would not require new laws or Congressional approval, Pereira said.
But officials at the Planning Ministry, which oversees the country's budget,
are not convinced a partial shutdown will do the trick.
"What good is to shut down temporarily?" the newspaper quoted Martus
Tavares, the Planning Ministry's executive-secretary.
The government has been delaying the announcement an austerity package
aimed at cutting the ballooning deficit.
Originally expected after the Oct. 5 election, the President Cardoso later
delayed the announcement until Oct. 20. Now it seems that the package
won't be announced until Oct. 26 - a day after second-round elections for
governors in several states. |
