Leandro Ferreira heads the Brazilian Basic Income Network (RBRB). He is currently involved in a study of the Renda Básica de Cidadania (Citizens’ Basic Income) in Maricá, a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The policy was created by the local government in 2013 and is now the largest basic income programme in Latin America. Since its expansion in 2023, 93,000 of the 197,000 people in the city receive the payments – almost half Maricá’s population.
To be eligible, people must have lived in Maricá for three years, have a household income of less than the total of three minimum wages, and be listed in the national government’s unified registry for social programmes (Cadastro Único). The money is paid in a local currency, the mumbuca, and can’t be converted to cash. It is administered by a community bank, the Banco Mumbuca, and can only be spent in Maricá through a card and a phone app. Recipients receive 230 mumbucas per month, equivalent to around US$84. This is slightly above Brazil’s individual poverty line.
We caught up with Leandro at the 23rd Basic Income Earth Network Congress, recently held at the University of Bath, to discuss the success of the programme and what its lessons are for basic income movements around the world.
