The president argued that cuts proposed by presidential challenger Flávio Bolsonaro could threaten benefits for lower-income households, while Bolsonaro’s campaign says the plan would target state-company losses and corruption.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Lula urged voters to scrutinize promises of fiscal cuts. He said such measures in Brazil tend to fall on poorer households rather than the wealthy. He cited above-inflation minimum-wage increases, the Minha Casa, Minha Vida housing program and discounts on medicines as areas that could be affected.
Lula said he favored investment in infrastructure and assets such as railways, hydroelectric plants and roads to support growth and reduce debt. He also said he inherited a budget with a 2.8% deficit, while the current budget proposal submitted by his government showed a surplus. He claimed each of his eight years as president had recorded a primary surplus.
His remarks were aimed mainly at Flávio Bolsonaro’s proposal for spending cuts worth billions of reais through a transitional constitutional amendment known as the “transition PEC.” Bolsonaro’s campaign describes the plan as the opposite of Lula’s 2022 proposal, which it says envisaged about 270 million reais in additional spending. Bolsonaro says the cuts would address losses at state-owned companies and corruption, including overpriced contracts and the alleged theft of pensioners’ funds at INSS.
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, the TSE, reported that Bolsonaro received 56,104,268 votes, or 47.03% of valid first-round votes. Lula received 53,876,617 votes, or 45.16%. They are due to face each other in the runoff on October 25.