LatinNews Daily - 24 August 2023

* Brazil’s lower house of congress has approved an executive decree (‘medida provisória’, MP) first signed in May by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which raised the minimum wage to R$1,320 (US$271) per month, up from R$1,302. MPs are temporary measures which can be made permanent by congress, although legislators can make changes to the original decree’s proposals. In passing this MP, federal deputies added new rules on how the minimum wage will be calculated from 2024 onwards, which will tie the wage to real increases in GDP over the previous two years. The updated legislation also maintained Lula’s measures to expand the exemption threshold for personal income tax (IR), which would allow a 25% discount on IR for those who earn less than R$2,640 per month. The updated MP will need to be reviewed in the senate before it can be promulgated into law.