LatinNews Daily - 17 November 2023

* Brazil’s minister for institutional relations, Alexandre Padilha, has given a press conference in which he sought to dispel concerns in recent weeks over fiscal discipline sparked by comments made by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 27 October suggesting that the government might struggle to meet its zero-deficit target for next year. As lawmakers have already started reviewing and suggesting changes to the 2024 budget proposal, Padilha insisted that the government would not seek to amend the fiscal target set out in the proposal. The rapporteur overseeing the passage of the budget guidelines legislation (LDO) through the lower house, deputy Danilo Forte, of the centre-right União Brasil party, also reaffirmed the zero-deficit target to the press. Forte stated that the final draft of the LDO legislation is expected to be presented in the lower house’s full chamber on 21 November.