Credit that does not sink the family
getting out of debt is the first step toward saving money
Proposes stabilizing and reducing public debt to lower interest rates, banning the use of social-program funds for betting and expanding financial guidance through the CAIXA network.
What the program says
Millions of Brazilian families work the whole month to pay interest. The paycheck comes in and almost all of it goes out again to cover the revolving credit-card balance, the overdraft and the overdue installment plan. It is not a lack of effort: it is the cost of money in a country where the government is the biggest borrower, which pushed the country to the highest benchmark interest rate in 19 years and, as a consequence, put pressure on the cost of loans for families and businesses. Contrary to the shameful statements by the current administration’s finance ministers, high interest rates are a consequence of the growing debt. Lower interest rates are not decreed: they are earned with the books in order, and the books are not in order when the government spends more than it collects. When the books are put in order, on the other hand, the result shows: the Bolsonaro government had the lowest average interest rate since the start of the Plano Real (Real Plan). Data from the October 2022 Boletim Focus (the central bank’s market-expectations survey), before the election, forecast a Selic rate (the benchmark interest rate) about 7 percentage points below what was applied in 2025 and 2026. [p. 32]
By stabilizing and reducing public debt, our government will create the conditions for benchmark interest rates to come into line with the international average and for inflation to return to the center of the target. That is what allows store credit, home financing and small-business working capital to stop being unpayable. We will also attack what pushes families into debt. Online betting consumes the month’s money even before it gets home, eroding the income of the most vulnerable population. We will ban the use of social-program funds for betting, because money meant to put food on the table cannot drain away to the bookmaker, and promote educational and awareness campaigns on the risks of going into debt through gambling. And we will expand financial guidance, through the network of CAIXA (the Federal Savings Bank), so that Brazilians learn to get out of the red, organize their budget and start saving. The goal is simple and concrete: for the money that slips away from the family today to come back home. [p. 33]
In plain language
- The text states that millions of families use almost their entire paycheck to pay interest on the revolving credit-card balance, the overdraft and the overdue installment plan.
- It attributes high interest rates to the government’s growing debt and states that the country reached the highest benchmark interest rate in 19 years. It says lower interest rates depend on the government not spending more than it collects.
- It proposes stabilizing and reducing public debt, so that benchmark interest rates come into line with the international average and inflation returns to the center of the target.
- It provides for banning the use of social-program funds for betting and promoting educational campaigns on the risks of going into debt through gambling.
- It proposes expanding financial guidance through the CAIXA network, so that people learn to get out of the red, organize their budget and start saving.
What is not in the program
- It gives no numerical target for public debt nor a timeline for benchmark interest rates to reach the international average.
- It does not detail how public debt would be stabilized and reduced.
- It does not state which social programs the ban would cover, the legal instrument or how it would be enforced.
- It does not define the format, audience or reach of the financial guidance through the CAIXA network or of the educational campaigns.
- It gives no cost or funding source for the campaigns and the financial guidance.