Deputies Return to Debate IPS Emergency After Changes Introduced by the Senate

The Chamber of Deputies included among the first items on its agenda for this Tuesday the bill declaring a state of emergency at the Social Security Institute (IPS), an initiative that had already received half approval unanimously in that chamber.

According to ABC Color, the text initially approved by Deputies was aimed at addressing the shortage of essential medicines, building infrastructure problems and elevator failures at the Central Hospital. It also contemplated powers for acquisitions, works, hiring staff and direct purchases.

According to that outlet, the Senate substantially modified the initiative. The original version had five articles and the one approved by the Upper House rose to 19, with changes that, according to the publication, shifted the focus of the health emergency toward the regime for placing pension funds in financial institutions.

ABC Color noted that one of the disputed points is article 17, which establishes that certificates of deposit and savings, as well as bonds, obligations and debt securities issued by the same financial institution, be counted separately and independently, in accordance with the specific limit of each subsection. Currently, the law sets a cap of 10% of the IPS’s total assets for placements in a single financial institution, adding up all types of investment.

The outlet added that this change would mainly benefit Ueno Bank and recalled that the Comptroller’s Office itself had warned about a