Lula’s chief of staff denies Bolsa Familia benefit boost is on the table

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil’s presidential chief of staff said on Friday the government was not studying an increase to the Bolsa Familia cash-transfer benefit, contradicting remarks made earlier in the day by a minister that an adjustment was on the table.

“There is no government study on increasing the value of the Bolsa Familia benefit,” the office of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s chief of staff said in a statement Friday evening.

“This topic is not on the government’s agenda and will not be discussed,” it added.

Bolsa Familia, a more than 20-year-old program, provides direct cash transfers to Brazil’s poorest households at an annual cost of 166.3 billion reais ($28.7 billion) estimated for this year.

A readjustment would have come as Lula, whose popularity has been dropping, has expressed concerns over rising food prices for Brazilians. The local currency also slumped late last year on investor worries over the South American nation’s debt trajectory.

In an interview published earlier on Friday, Brazil’s minister of social development, Wellington Dias, told German news outlet DW that a potential adjustment to the Bolsa Familia was “on the table.”

The minister cited rising grocery prices and said a decision would be taken by March.

Bolsa Familia serves around 20.5 million families with an average monthly benefit of about 674 reais, according to January data.

($1 = 5.7927 reais)

(Reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Marcela Ayres in Brasilia; Editing by David Gregorio)