Agência Brasil
Brasília – Brazil will be one of the countries to run a pilot project trying out new rules for calculating a primary surplus (which does not take into consideration interest payments). The idea is to permit developing nations to exclude spending on infrastructure in the calculation of the primary surplus, an important International Monetary Fund yardstick.
A spokesman for the IMF explained that certain types of spending by public institutions would no longer be considered expenditures, but rather investments. In the case of Brazil, that would cover many outlays made by Petrobrás, for example.
"The fund has agreed to see such outlays by state-run enterprises and the government as productive investments," said the brazilian finance minister Antonio Palocci. The change in the calculation has been urged by most developing nations.
