Teto de gastos e investimentos públicos: uma análise para as companhias estaduais rbasileiras de saneamento básico

Abstract

This monograph analyzes the impacts of Constitutional Amendment No. 95/2016, the Spending Cap, on investments made by Brazilian State Basic Sanitation Companies (CESBs) between 2007 and 2021. The study starts from the premise that the New Fiscal Regime, by limiting the growth of the Union's primary expenditures, converted public investment into an adjustment variable. Through a quantitative approach and data from SINISA, IBGE, and IBREFGV, the evolution of state contributions and their financing sources was investigated. The results evidence that the Spending Cap caused a structural contraction in the Union's investment capacity and a reduction in transfers of non-onerous resources to state-owned companies in the sector. A reconfiguration of the CESBs' financing profile was observed, with increased dependence on onerous resources (debt) and own resources (tariffs), to the detriment of federal subsidies. It is concluded that the austerity policy acted as an inhibitor of the sector's development, compromising universalization goals in vulnerable regions and transferring the investment responsibility to subnational entities.