São Paulo – The Brazilian federal government’s debt was up 1.77% in August from July to R$ 1.99 trillion (US$ 903 billion), according to August results released this Wednesday (25th) by the National Treasury. The survey includes internal and external debts, and is nearing the R$ 2 trillion (US$ 907 billion) recorded in late 2012.
The Brazilian government’s internal debt was up 1.69% in August to R$ 1.89 trillion (US$ 857 billion), and the external debt was up 3.39% to R$ 95.8 billion (US$ 43.4 billion). In August, the hike of the dollar against Brazil’s real caused the country’s external debt to rise.
Another reason for the increase in Brazilian debt last month was the issuance of R$ 40.33 billion (US$ 18.3 billion) worth of debt securities, as against R$ 23.05 billion (US$ 10.4 billion) in redemptions. According to information from Agência Brasil , in August, there were few government bonds maturing, and these usually offset the government’s issuances. In August, bonds worth US$ 12.02 billion matured. In July, the amount was US$ 80.05 billion.
The National Treasury forecasts that the Brazilian government debt should range from R$ 2.1 trillion to R$ 2.24 trillion (US$ 952 billion to US$ 1.01 billion) by the end of the year. If the forecast proves true, Brazilian government indebtedness may be up from 4.6% to 11.6% from 2012 levels.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
