Brazil social security '99 savings seen $8.3 bln
Reuters, Wednesday, October 28, 1998 at 22:24
BRASILIA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Brazil's fiscal austerity plan
should produce total savings of 9.87 billion reais ($8.29
billion) in the social security sector, Social Security
Minister Waldeck Ornellas said Wednesday.
"Our contribution to the fiscal adjustment is 9.87 billion
reais," Ornellas told reporters.
Of this, 3.75 billion reais would come from the social
security system for private sector workers, known as the INSS,
and 6.12 billion reais from the public sector, he said.
The savings would come from a combination of raising social
security contributions, cutting the social security deficits of
the private and public sectors and implementing new laws to
prevent social security fraud, the minister said.
The government earlier announced a program of budget cuts,
tax increases and other measures aimed at saving $23.5 billion
in 1999 and restoring investor confidence in Brazil's battered
economy.
The program includes a rise in social security
contributions for civil servants whose earnings exceed a
certain level and the introduction of pension contributions for
retired public sector workers.
The government also plans to introduce a general law
introducing limits on the amount state companies can spend on
pension payments, among other items.
Ornellas said he expected Congress to resume voting on
three remaining amendments of a long-awaited social security
reform as early as next Wednesday.
"The international crisis has shown how right the
government was all along," he said. "If this reform had been
approved three years ago, probably the country would not be
going through the problems...it is now."
joelle.diderich@reuters.com))
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service |
