RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil will officially announce on Tuesday the extension of an aid payment program designed to help people weather the economic damage of the novel coronavirus pandemic, a government official said on Saturday.
President Jair Bolsonaro has previously stated that the aid payments, which are due to expire this month, will be renewed through the end of the year. However, a planned announcement last Tuesday was delayed after disagreements about the form of future aid payments and related benefits arose between the Economy Ministry and Bolsonaro.
“On Tuesday, we’re going to the Alvorada Palace to announce, together with President Jair Bolsonaro, the extension of emergency payments, a benefit that is so important for millions of Brazilians that need help to confront the pandemic,” Deputy Arthur Lira, the head in the lower house of a power political bloc known as the Centrao, wrote on Twitter.
The value of future payments is still unknown, but leaders have signaled it will be less that the monthly 600 reais ($111) that are currently given.
(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Writing by Gram Slattery; editing by Grant McCool)
