In a statement made Monday (Apr. 17), Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said that the pension reform being proposed for the country is a financial and fiscal need, and that a report on the matter should be brought forward Tuesday (18) by lawmaker Arthur de Oliveira Maia, spearheading a special Congress commission on the subject.

Meirelles also said that Maia's changes were made in compliance with the talks held by the government with its supporting leaders, who have committed to approve [the reform] as quickly as possible],” he said, after participating in a seminar on the country's pension system, promoted by newspaper Valor Econômico.