Rio de Janeiro governor moves to join Propag, taps Petrobras credit to slash state debt

Interim governor Ricardo Couto announced that Rio de Janeiro will sign the Programa de Pleno Pagamento de Dívidas dos Estados (Propag) by the end of June. The program is expected to reduce the state's monthly debt service from roughly R$ 490 million to about R$ 113 million over five years, easing the burden of more than R$ 200 billion owed to the Union.

Couto is negotiating with Finance Minister Darío Durigan to use a Petrobras credit of around R$ 20 billion as part of the repayment strategy. The governor also said the state plans to dismiss over 6,000 non‑career public servants, having already removed 3,072, a move he described as a "solution easy, easy" that has already generated savings of over R$ 2.3 billion in two months. Additionally, Rio is seeking to recover about R$ 1.4 billion from investments made by Rio Previdência in Banco Master.

These measures are aimed at stabilising the state's finances, lowering interest costs and restoring fiscal space for future investments.