BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Wednesday she has sent lawmakers another proposal to earmark all oil royalties collected by the state for public education after Congress shelved an earlier effort.
She made the announcement in a televised Labour Day speech in which she said improving education was vital for Brazil’s development in a highly competitive world.
Rousseff last year proposed earmarking for education all revenue from future oil royalties, which are expected to rise when Brazil taps huge subsalt fields off its Atlantic coast.
Despite her personal entreaties, legislators suspended discussion of the plan last week after it got caught up in a dispute between Brazil’s states over how to share out the country’s oil wealth.
A presidential press spokesman said he did not know whether the new plan to tie oil royalties to education was different from the first proposal.
