The federal government wants to reduce the number of small municipalities that lack financial autonomy in the country.
In one of the measures foreseen in the so-called PEC of the federative pact, delivered to the Senate, the Ministry of Economy presents a rule that provides for the merger of municipalities in this condition.
According to the proposal delivered on Tuesday (5) by President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) to parliamentarians, municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants and but collect less than 10% of the total revenue will be incorporated by the neighboring municipality.
Under the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution), the municipal merger breach would start from 2026. A complementary law will have to be approved by that date to define the merger process.
Brazil has 1,253 municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, according to data from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
This is equivalent to 22.5% of the total of 5,570 Brazilian municipalities (including the Federal District). Together they add up to 4.21 million inhabitants.
Special Secretary of Finance of the Ministry of Economy, Waldery Rodrigues, said that all these 1,253 municipalities can be affected by the rule.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon