President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on Thursday (17) a roughly 15% increase in the benefits paid by Bolsa Família, Brazil's main cash-transfer program for poor families. The program's base payment rises from R$ 600 to R$ 691. The average benefit goes from R$ 675 to R$ 777, according to the Planning Ministry. The announcement came less than three weeks before the first round of Brazil's presidential election.
Lula announced the measure at the Planalto presidential palace, alongside Civil House chief minister Miriam Belchior, Planning Minister Bruno Moretti and Social Development Minister Wellington Dias, according to Folha de S.Paulo. It is the first increase since the program was relaunched in March 2023. The government has not said when the new values take effect.
Moretti framed the figure as compensation for inflation. According to the minister, the INPC, a national consumer price index, rose 15.04% between the start of the program and August. The government says the increase is allowed under the law that recreated the program, which permits corrections at most every two years, as reported by G1.
"What we found, on inflation, is that the INPC from the start of the program through August, the latest measured index, is 15%. Or 15.04%, to be precise. That gives a linear adjustment of 15% for each of the Bolsa Família benefits. So the program's floor, which is R$ 600, goes to R$ 691. The program's average benefit goes from R$ 675 to R$ 777," Moretti said.
The increase will cost R$ 5.8 billion this year, according to Moretti. In 2027, when it will apply for a full year, the estimated impact is R$ 22 billion. The minister said the government found fiscal room to cover the expense. The money set aside for the program in the 2027 budget bill will rise from R$ 157.1 billion to about R$ 179 billion. The bill was sent to Congress in August without the increase and will have to be amended.
The R$ 600 floor dates from 2022
The minimum payment was set in 2022 under President Jair Bolsonaro, of the right-wing PL party, also just before an election, when the program was called Auxílio Brasil. The payment was made possible by a constitutional amendment approved by Congress, BBC News Brasil recalled. Lula kept the R$ 600 floor and restored the Bolsa Família name in March 2023. In August, the benefit reached about 19.3 million families. Families currently receive extra payments of R$ 150 per child up to age 6 and R$ 50 for pregnant women, babies up to 6 months and young people aged 7 to 18. The government has not detailed how those add-ons will be updated.
The announcement comes in the middle of the campaign. The BBC News Brasil poll aggregator shows Lula tied with the PL candidate, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, in a likely runoff. In Congress, the next step is amending the 2027 budget bill, now under consideration there. The Planalto still has to set the date on which the new values enter into force.