The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education are the departments most affected by the additional blocking of 1.5 billion reais in the 2023 budget, the government reported this Friday (28).

• Health was subject to a blockade of 452 million reais
• In education, the reserve was 332 million reais

The blockade was announced by the Ministries of Finance and Planning last Friday (21), but the details of the affected portfolios were only published today in an additional edition of the “Official Journal of the Union”.

As a result, the total blocked in 2024 amounts to 3.2 billion reais (see below).

The blockade is necessary to ensure compliance with the spending cap, a budgetary rule that limits most EU spending to changes in inflation. This rule is still in effect this year.

The blockage is temporary. Throughout the year, if the government’s accounts adjust to budgetary rules, funds could be released again.

The economic team hopes to approve, early in the second half of the year, the draft fiscal framework, a set of tools that will replace the spending cap.

The text has already passed through the House and the Federal Senate. But as it has been modified, a new analysis by MPs will still be necessary.

The second budget blockage affected ten portfolios. See value blocked by the ministry:

• Health – 452.024 million reais
• Education – 332.017 million reais
• Transportation – 217.011 million BRL
• Cities – 144.007 million BRL
• Development and social assistance – 144.007 million BRL
• Environment – 97.505 million reais
• Regional integration and development – 60.003 million reais
• Defense – 35.001 million reais
• Culture – 27.001 million reais
• Agrarian development – 24.001 million reais