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Brazil’s Lula boosts welfare payments, eyes new debt-relief push ahead of election
By Marcela Ayres BRASILIA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's leftist government on Thursday announced a 15% increase in benefits under the country's flagship welfare program and signaled a new initiative
BRASILIA, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Brazil’s leftist government on Thursday announced a 15% increase in benefits under the country’s flagship welfare program and signaled a new initiative targeting indebted households ahead of next month’s general election.
The measures are aimed at boosting disposable income among Brazilians, whose finances have been strained by record levels of debt servicing, a vulnerability widely seen as weighing on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s prospects of winning a fourth non-consecutive term.
Opinion polls show the leftist leader running neck-and-neck with his main challenger, right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, in a potential runoff election.