Brazilian gov't presents social security reform to Congress

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Wednesday presented to The Congress a bill for The reform of The social security system of The military.

The reform will affect The pension and retirement system of members of The Armed Forces, Military Police Corps and Fire Department squads.

According to The Ministry of Economy, The reform will help save some 10 billion reais (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 10 years in The Armed Forces, while state governments are expected to save 52 billion reais (13.8 billion dollars) meanwhile, as The Military Police corps and Fire Department squads are state workers.

The bill for The reform of The civilians' social security system has been presented to The Congress, but Rodrigo Maia, head of The House, said The Congress will not submit The bill to a vote if The government does not present a bill for The military as well.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called for a quick analysis of The bills, so that They can be approved soon.

The bill increases The minimum service time of The military before retirement, in a similar manner as it was proposed for civilians, from 30 to 35 years of service.

However, it does not propose a minimum age of retirement, which means that The military will still have advantages over civil workers from both The private and public sectors. The reform bill for civilians presents a minimum retirement age of 65 years for men and 62 for women, regardless of The number of working years.

In addition, The bill also features an increase in The share of The salary to be paid to The social security system, from 7.5 percent to 10.5 percent by 2022. However, The figures are significantly smaller than those featured in The civilian reform -- for civilians, The government's bill proposes a maximum contribution of 11.68 percent for private sector workers and 16.79 percent for public sector workers.

The social security system of The military has a deficit of 43.9 billion reais (11.6 billion dollars), while The system serving civilian citizens in The private sector has a deficit of 195 billion reais (51.7 billion dollars).