SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – The administration of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, facing the threat of impeachment, presented plans on Monday to limit government spending and stave off a debt crisis among states and cities hit by the worst recession in decades.

Under the first proposal, which Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa announced at a news conference in Brasilia, the federal government would limit increases in recurring expenses and slow constitutionally mandated spending during times of hardship. The plan has to be sent to Congress for approval.

Barbosa also announced a program to help debt-laden states and municipalities that could cost taxpayers about $12.6 billion for the next three years. The plan includes refinancing with state development bank BNDES and extending debt maturities for regional governments by 20 years.

A third plan would create a new mechanism for the central bank to mop up or inject more money into the economy without the use of repurchase agreements. Under the plan, Barbosa said, commercial banks would be allowed to make interest-bearing deposits at the central bank, in practice eliminating the need to use government bonds to administer liquidity.

“We are in urgent need of some flexibility to pull the economy out of this recession, create jobs,” Barbosa said. The government’s ability to pull Brazil from recession has been severely hampered by years of erratic policy decisions and a corruption probe into Rousseff’s administration.

Some economists cast doubts on the feasibility of the plans, especially as Rousseff risks being ousted for allegedly using the budget to bolster her re-election chances in 2014. Congress is focused on impeachment proceedings, which the lower house opened last week, and may refrain from voting on any piece of economic legislation until Rousseff’s fate is decided.

For years, Rousseff, who was the country’s top cabinet minister from 2005 to 2010, opposed the budget spending growth limits, which she saw as an attempt by the opposition to curtail plans by her ruling Workers’ Party for massive social and infrastructure plans. As former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s chief of staff, she vetoed an attempt to implement the limit over 10 years ago.

“The spending limit bill must have been drafted and voted years ago, not now … It’s too late,” said Alexandre Schwartsman, a former central bank board member who now runs his own economic consultancy firm in São Paulo. “It’s hard to tell whether any of these proposals will be voted (on) at this point.”

The country’s budget deficit has mushroomed since Rousseff took office as president in 2011. The overall deficit rose to 10.3 percent of GDP in 2015, nearly five times the shortfall in her first months in office.

(Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman)