Brazil’s Flavio Bolsonaro to institute debt ceiling if elected president

An economic adviser for the campaign of Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has said that the candidate will institute a debt ceiling if he wins Brazil’s presidency in October.

Adolfo Sachsida, a lawyer and economist who joined Bolsonaro’s economic team last week, said in a social media post on Wednesday that the measure would help improve Brazil’s fiscal reputation and rein in spending.

“We will approve a ceiling for public debt. If debt is too high, a spending cap is triggered, putting the fiscal trajectory on a sustainable path,” Sachsida said in a video shared on X.

Senator Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, is the main challenger facing off against leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in this year’s presidential election .

A Nexus poll released this week found Lula and Bolsonaro in a near-tie.

Should the two men advance to a run-off, the poll found that Lula would eke out a victory of 46 percent to Bolsonaro’s 45 percent. Other polls have shown Lula with a slight advantage over his rival.

The economy is slated to be a key factor in the race. While inflation has slowed and unemployment has fallen to record lows in recent months, the Bolsonaro campaign has warned that another Lula victory would lead to a recession.

While conservatives have promoted debt ceilings as a means of promoting fiscal constraint, critics have pointed out that they limit government spending during periods of crisis.