A Sao Paulo state civil construction union has criticized a government decision this week to cut BRL 4.8 billion ($1.25 billion) in the Minha Casa Minha Vida housing program for 2016, as the nation performs a fiscal adjustment that is aimed to help the country’s struggling economy to recover.
The Brazilian finance minister, Joaquim Levy, announced this week a series of measures that are expected to help the country’s economy to recover in the short term. Besides cutting $1.25 billion from the housing program, the government also said it will reduce other BRL 15 billion from the initiative, as previously announced by the government.
“Responsible for about 60 percent of the productive investments, the [civil] construction is fundamental for the retake of the country’s economic growth. The more it is affected by the new measures announced by the government, the later it will take the country’s recovery,” said Jose Ferraz Neto, president at local union SindusCon-SP.
The civil construction segment is one the main consumers of the nation’s steel industry.