Brazil’s pension reform process hit two speed bumps on Tuesday, as Economy Minister Paulo Guedes did not attend a first congressional hearing on the proposals and a bloc of 11 political parties demanded the removal of changes affecting retirement benefits for rural and disabled workers.

Guedes’s appearance at the ‘CCJ’ committee was seen as a highlight of pensions reform negotiations this week, amid growing concern the government is disengaged from the process.

The government’s chief congressional whip Joice Hasselmann played down Guedes’s no-show and said the sections the 11 parties want removed from the bill would not undermine the fiscal savings target of 1 trillion reais ($258 billion).

“The important thing is that they will still vote for the bill,” she told reporters.

But investors were cautious. The Brazilian real slid to a session low 3.8789 per dollar and market-based interest rates rose, with April 2020 futures contracts up as much as five basis points to a high of 6.55 percent.

These moves later reversed, but markets have been volatile lately on concern that political fragmentation in Brasilia will delay and dilute pension reform, the government’s signature bill aimed at restoring public finances and kickstarting the economy.

The process appears to have run into quicksand, with even the government’s allies who want pension reform passed stepping up criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro for lacking leadership in selling the ambitious bill to lawmakers.

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