Temer Agrees on Brazil Pension Vote With House Chief

[Judi Lynn]

By Simone Preissler Iglesias
November 23, 2017, 11:31 AM CST



Photographer: Andre Coelho/Bloomberg


Brazil President Michel Temer on Wednesday struck a tentative deal with Lower House Speaker Rodrigo Maia to put the administration’s controversial pension bill to vote in early December, prompting local assets to rally.

The government’s proposed bill will be put up for debate in the Chamber of Deputies on Dec. 5 and to a floor vote on Dec. 6 or 7, according to a government official with direct knowledge of the matter. The administration will schedule the vote even though it does not yet have the necessary 308 votes for approval.

Brazil’s currency erased losses to gain against the U.S. dollar, while the benchmark stock exchange gained more than 400 points on news of the agreement.

The decision comes amid an all-out push to gain support for the bill, which the government argues will help tame debt and consumer prices. Policy makers have held numerous rounds of talks and loosened some of the bill’s key provisions in attempts to assuage lawmaker concerns and guarantee approval. Even so, the bill’s rapporteur has said securing the necessary votes continues to be a difficult task.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-23/temer-is-said-to-agree-on-brazil-pension-vote-with-house-chief