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The “Vale Gás” financial support, intended to cover the cost of cooking gas for low-income families, faces obstacles due to spending restrictions.
During President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s term in office, the program suffered from a reduction in public funds, putting assistance for nearly 2 million families in jeopardy as early as next December.
It is worth noting that this extra benefit is equivalent to the full average price of a 13 kg gas cylinder in Brazil. The federal government pays the bonus every two months, and the next installment will be deposited this month, August.
Based on the information provided, there will be no change in the funds for August and October. However, as indicated, the budget reduction may begin to take effect in December.
Therefore, it is clear that, without the “Vale Gás”, many families may find themselves in a state of distress, facing additional challenges in affording the cost of cooking gas, which is essential for operating their kitchens and properly preparing food.
If you are a beneficiary of the Bolsa Família program and receive the additional “Vale Gás” benefit, it is essential that you are aware of the information released by the federal government regarding these cuts. That is why we have prepared this article. Let’s understand the background of these actions together.
First of all, let’s better understand how Vale Gás works
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To combat the crisis experienced by families who could not afford to purchase cooking gas due to a lack of financial resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brazilian government launched “Vale Gás” in 2021.
It is a financial benefit provided every two months per family, based on the average price of a 13 kg gas cylinder in Brazil. The amount currently designated for “Vale Gás” is R$ 110.
Thus, this assistance aims to ensure that families have regular and safe access to cooking gas. So far, the government has paid three installments of the benefit in February, April, and June.
Budgetary restrictions on Vale Gás
The Ministry of Social Development, responsible for administering programs such as Vale Gás, suffered a blow when R$ 262 million was blocked from its budget.
Unfortunately, this freeze directly impacted the program that provides support for cooking gas to low-income families. To comply with the spending cap, the government was forced to withdraw funds from Vale Gás for the month of December.
This reduction represents a significant 14% of the program's total budget, which is R$ 1.8 billion, and has not yet been made available to beneficiaries.
In light of this, there is serious concern regarding the program's funding through the end of the year.
If measures to replenish the budget are not adopted, the program may not have sufficient resources to assist all beneficiary families.
Therefore, this situation puts the food security and quality of life of many vulnerable families at risk, as they relied on the benefit to meet part of their basic needs.
Thus, the scarcity of resources may worsen the poverty and social vulnerability of these families.
More cuts
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The Lula government was forced to block R$ 1.5 billion from this year's public budget, affecting several ministries due to the still-in-force spending cap.
To replace the spending cap, the government is pressuring Congress to approve the new Fiscal Framework, which has already passed the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, but underwent changes and returned to the Chamber of Deputies for the expected final approval this semester.
With the change in the fiscal rule, the government will have the opportunity to create new room in the budget and review previous cuts. This will also allow for the option of making new reallocations of funds.
The Vale Gás program, as we mentioned earlier, had its funding cut by the Ministry of Development, Social Assistance, Family and the Fight Against Hunger.
However, the cuts also affected the Ministry of Health, with a reduction of R$ 452 million. The Ministry of Education, in turn, had R$ 332 million blocked.
