Lula to Use $3.5 Billion Fund to Boost Economy as Approval Falls
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Brazil plans to use a social fund that receives oil and gas exploration royalties to help boost the economy as opinion polls show President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s popularity slumping to all-time lows.
A provisional measure published late on Thursday installs a committee to manage the social fund that was created in 2010 to invest part of the revenue from Brazil’s pre-salt oil exploration into education. The committee, which will decide the destination of about 20 billion reais ($3.5 billion) the fund has accumulated since then, may use the money for general budget purposes or transfer it into different funds, according to a finance ministry official.