⁍ Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said he was scrapping plans to launch a new social welfare program called Renda Brasil.

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⁍ The rebranded welfare proposal was aimed at boosting popular support needed for a re-election bid in 2022.

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⁍ Bolsonaro was unable to agree on funding with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, who is battling to control Brazil’s budget deficit.

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– Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has scrapped plans to launch a new social welfare program. Bolsonaro said he was scrapping plans to launch a new social welfare program called Renda Brasil and will keep the Bolsa Familia conditional cash transfer program begun by previous leftist governments, Reuters reports. The rebranded welfare proposal was aimed at boosting popular support needed for a re-election bid in 2022, but Bolsonaro was unable to agree on funding with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, who is battling to control Brazil’s budget deficit. “It is forbidden to talk about Renda Brasil in my government until 2022. We will continue with Bolsa Familia and that’s it,” Bolsonaro said in a video posted on his social media accounts. Bolsonaro pledged never to cut welfare payments for retirees or disabled people, a measure proposed by Guedes’ team as a way of funding the new Renda Brasil program. Bolsa Familia, the successful flagship safety-net program of former Workers Party President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will be kept in place for now, Bolsonaro said. Disagreement with Guedes on the funding of Renda Brasil meant that the plan floated by Bolsonaro was not included in the 2021 budget proposal sent to Congress last month.