Last Updated on August 15, 2019
The Brazilian plenary overwhelmingly voted to pass a provisional measure, or MP, on Tuesday that represents the bold pro-Brazil, pro-market economic platform of President Jair M. Bolsonaro.
The Brazilian economy has grown sluggishly in the first of 2019 after a strong rebound in 2017-18 from decades-long recession, and one of the main spearheads in the new government’s plan to rejuvenate the markets is MP 881/19, also known as The Freedom MP.
The proposed measure came up for vote on Tuesday, and was passed by a resounding margin of nearly 5 to 1. As Agencia Brasil reports:
The plenary of the House approved, tonight (13), the base text to the Provisional Measure (MP) of Economic Freedom, an agglutinative amendment presented by the rapporteur of the matter, Deputy Jerome Georgen (PP-RS) that removes points approved in the mixed committee considered unconstitutional. The basic text was adopted by 345 votes to 76, with one abstention.Â
Despite the Brazilian President being pilloried as a strongman and a dictator by the Western corporate press, economic proposals advanced by the Bolsonaro administration have been stridently pro-individualist. Many are hoping the new bill will revitalize the economy by cutting regulations that hamper the upward mobility of small business owners.
The report continues:
The MP 881/19, or Economic Freedom MP, establishes guarantees for free market economic activity, imposes restrictions on the regulatory power of the state, creates rights of economic freedom and regulates the actions of the federal tax authorities. The approved version frees individuals and companies to develop businesses considered low risk, which may rely on total waiver of acts such as licenses, permits, registrations, registrations or permits. The rapporteur also included in the proposal topics such as the creation of the digital workbook; agility in opening and closing companies and the replacement of the Digital Bookkeeping systems for Tax, Social Security and Labor (eSocial) Obligations.
The nation of Brazil has suffered under far-left socialist and communist policies since the early twentieth century, and the Presidency was under the control of the left-wing Worker’s Party from 2003-2016.
The failure of the economy during this period has been cited as tremendously instrumental in the election of President Bolsonaro, who ran on an unapologetic anti-corruption platform.
Many of Bolsonaro’s supporters are ecstatic about the ratification of the Economic Freedom MP, which by all accounts is a much-needed breath of fresh air after decades of stifling regulations.
