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Brazil’s Lula announces 15% increase in flagship welfare payments ahead of key election
The increase lifts the minimum monthly benefit to 691 reais and is expected to cost 5.8 billion reais in 2026, officials said.
- On Thursday in Brasilia, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree raising Bolsa Familia minimum benefits by 15%, increasing monthly payments from 600 reais to 691 reais next month.
- Planning Minister Bruno Moretti stated the adjustment offsets accumulated inflation of 15.04% since the program's March 2023 relaunch, maintaining purchasing power without requiring additional budget expenditures.
- The benefit increase costs the government 5.8 billion reais in 2026 and 22 billion reais in 2027; Finance Minister Dario Durigan noted the program remains central to reducing poverty and food insecurity.
- With polls showing Lula and rival Flavio Bolsonaro virtually tied before the October 4 vote, critics compare this move to former President Jair Bolsonaro's pre-election cash surges in 2022 totaling about 273 billion reais.
- Introduced by Lula in 2003, the cash-transfer program provides aid conditional on school attendance and health requirements, with academic studies crediting the initiative with significant reductions in inequality and infant mortality.
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Brazil's Lula announces 15% welfare boost ahead of election
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree on Thursday increasing benefits of his flagship welfare program by 15 percent, weeks before the first round of the presidential elections. The minimum monthly benefit per family of Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) will rise to 691 reais ($134) next month, from 600 reais. The decree says that it adjusts payments for accumulated inflation since March 2023. The measure will …
·Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
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Second government, increase is only realignment of inflation after years of freeze of benefits.
·London, United Kingdom
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Total News Sources69
Leaning Left7Leaning Right3Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Left
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left
50% Left
L 50%
C 29%
R 21%
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