Government sends text with 45 strategic goals to Congress by end of August
07/24/2023
The multi-year plan (PPA) for 2024-2027 will be sent by the government to Congress with about 45 strategic objectives linked to national key result indicators (KNI), which, in turn, will have annualized targets, with a tolerance band system for compliance, said the National Secretary of Planning Leany Lemos in an interview with Valor. It will be the first time that strategic objectives are linked to KNIs.
The 2024-2027 PPA must be submitted to Congress by August 31. The list of strategic objectives is still being validated at the highest levels of government and will be reviewed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
According to Mr. Lemos, there will be a strategic objective linked to the reduction of greenhouse gases. Each year, there will be a reduction target, with a compliance band, up or down, as the inflation targeting system works.
“Certainly, deforestation falls under this umbrella of climate priority [within the PPA]. And this is in line with what President Lula is advocating. The focus will be greater government investment,” said Márcio Macêdo, the secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Budget.
Another example: the PPA will bring as one of its strategic objectives a “fiscal and tax system with credibility, predictability, and sustainability that promotes greater social justice and expansion of investments,” with two indicators: one of net public debt as a percentage of GDP and another of the percentage of effective collection of indirect taxes on total collection in the three federative spheres. Each of the indicators will have an annual target, with a range.
The tolerance interval will be placed because the achievement of the targets depends on numerous factors that may or may not be under the control of the federal government, said Mr. Lemos.
Despite the band, there will be no punishment in case of non-compliance. The idea is to allow for internal and social control. The creation of a PPA Observatory is being considered, in addition to the publishing of periodic bulletins.
Rodrigo Medeiros, prosecutor of the Prosecution Service at the public spending watchdog TCU, says that the government is right not to impose sanctions, but that it is important to adopt incentive mechanisms for the achievement of the objectives, such as the redirection of the budget to the areas that make better use of the funds.
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Marcelo Neri — Foto: Leo Pinheiro/Valor
Marcelo Neri, director of the Social Policy Center of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Social), also mentions the possibility of creating an incentive system that increases the transfer of funds to more effective places. “The problem is that there is usually no insurance against idiosyncratic shocks. A complementary possibility is to compare with references subject to the same conditions, then we can at least eliminate the effects of systemic shocks or an underestimation of opportunities. All of this is complex, and the bands allow for some adjustment,” he said.
Over the past few terms, the PPA has been viewed by experts as a “letter of intent” that does not come to fruition. The government’s challenge is precisely to turn the programs foreseen in the PPA into reality over the next few years. Hence, the establishment of metrics.
For Mr. Neri, the move is welcome. “Economic and social targets tell us where and when we want to go. The target band works to accommodate uncertainty and shocks.”
Mr. Medeiros also sees the initiative as positive but says it is a first step. “The PPA needs to be reflected in the budget guidelines law and the annual budget law, and then in the budget execution itself.”
Mr. Lemos said the PPA will bring 89 programs and would provide for almost 2,000 deliveries and more than 700 regulatory activities of a regulatory nature, improving the business environment or management. The numbers may change as the document is still being finalized. The PPA should also have three axes, with five priority agendas and five cross-cutting agendas.
The plan will also include suggestions collected between April and July in plenary sessions in the 26 states and the Federal District, with the participation of Mr. Macêdo and Planning and Budget minister Simone Tebet. The government opened an internet platform for people to vote on the proposals that were being formulated in the plenary sessions. The site had more than 4.5 million hits, with 1.529 million votes on 8,254 proposals.
*Por Jessica Sant’Ana, Fabio Murakawa, Renan Truffi — Brasília