For former finance minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, the government’s argument that more significant increases for retirees and civil servants could boost rather than contain inflation may be misleading.
In an interview with the newspaper Público, the former government official explained why he does not understand this thesis: “I find it difficult to understand how the increase in pensions and even the increase in salaries of the Public Function is going to increase the cost of production. of companies”.
This inflation is increased by the increase in costs and I do not see how the salaries of the Civil Service and pensions enter directly into the costs of the companies“, said Teixeira dos Santos.
While acknowledging that a more significant increase in salaries in the Civil Service, for example, could “affect salary negotiations in the private sector,” which in turn could contribute to increases in the prices of goods and services, Teixeira dos Santos believes that this impact would be reduced: “There is no significant impact that could be decisive in the increase in costs and, consequently, in fueling this inflationary spiral.“.
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The Government’s argument that more significant increases in pensions could jeopardize the sustainability of Social Security also deserved corrections from the former Minister of Finance. “I heard about the impact of the pension measure on the spending side of Social Security, but what about income? [do Estado]? I haven’t heard about the impact that inflation is having on the income side. The labor market is under some tension, wages will tend to rise, Social Security contributions will also tend to rise,” Teixeira dos Santos pointed out, adding: “Looking only at the expense side can be misleading.”
These government bills, related to the impact of a pension increase in line with an extraordinarily high rate of inflation, have been challenged by various parties, from left to right. The main opposition party, the PSD, takes a different position, advocating increases in line with inflation. Liberal Initiative called for more “transparency” in the government’s calculations. The Bloco de Esquerda, Chega and PCP also expressed criticism, as did PAN and Livre.
pensions The “lack of rigor” in the calculations also reaches the expenses
Source: Observadora
