Brazil's Lower House Approves R$600 Emergency Aid for Minas Gerais Flood Victims

Overview

• Deputies passed the bill on Thursday to support residents hit by rains, landslides and floods in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais.
• The aid grants R$600 per month for six months after enactment to adults who can prove loss of housing, limited to two beneficiaries per family, with two quotas for the provider in single-parent households.
• Payments will be deposited in automatically opened digital accounts at public banks without fees, and financial institutions are barred from deductions that reduce the benefit.
• The text authorizes the INSS to advance payments to pending BPC applicants for up to six months or until review, and to front one minimum wage monthly to sickness-benefit applicants for the same period or until medical examination, under criteria to be set by authorities.
• A separate fast-tracked bill for affected companies still awaits a plenary vote and would zero PIS/Pasep, Cofins, CSLL and IRPJ for 12 months and create a guarantee program to be run via the FGI and administered by BNDES.