Brasília – Weak growth in the revenue-to-spending ratio led the Brazilian Central Government (National Treasury, Social Security and Central Bank) to post the lowest primary surplus for the first four months of the year since 2001. According to numbers released this Thursday (28th) by the National Treasury, the country ran a primary surplus of R$ 14.593 billion (US$ 4.6 billion) from January to April, the lowest for the period in 14 years.
Compared with January to April 2014, the surplus was down 50.8%. In April alone, the primary surplus was R$ 10.086 billion (US$ 3.192 billion), down 39.3% from R$ 16.612 billion (US$ 5.257 billion) in April 2014. The April surplus is the weakest since R$ 7.337 billion (US$ 2.334 billion) in April 2013.
The primary surplus is savings intended to pay interest on government debt. In the medium and long terms, it helps stave off government indebtedness. The primary surplus target for this year is R$ 66.3 billion (US$ 20.9 billion), or 1.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP, the sum of all wealth produced in the country).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
