After
years of austerity, researchers fear that the latest dramatic cut will destroy
the country's science.
Brazilian scientists have been left horrified
by a 44% slash to the federal science budget, announced by the country's
government on 30 March.
This will leave the Ministry of Science,Technology, Innovations and
Communications (MCTIC) with its lowest budget in at least 12 years at just 2.8
billion reais, equivalent to US$898 million — a 2.2 billion reais cut from the
5 billion reais of funding that the government had originally proposed for 2017
(see ‘Drastic cuts’).
The cut is part of a general trimming of 42 billion reais from the
federal budget, which amounts to 28% over all government departments — so the
cut to science is particularly severe. President Michel Temer says the measure
was a tough but necessary response to Brazil’s escalating fiscal deficit. The
country faces the worst recession in its history, and recovery has been much
slower than expected: gross domestic product growth predictions for 2017 were
revised down from 1.4% to 0.5% last month.
(...)
Para continuar a leitura,
acesse http://www.nature.com/news/brazilian-scientists-reeling-as-federal-funds-slashed-by-nearly-half-1.21766
Cláudio Ângelo – 04.04.2017.
IN Nature – International Journal of Sciences.
