Brasília – The Central Government of Brazil (National Treasury, Social Security and Central Bank) ran a combined deficit of R$ 9.051 billion (US$ 2.500 billion) from January through July this year. In Brazilian reais (adjusted for inflation), the result is the first deficit for the period since records started being kept in 1997.
The primary deficit is a negative result for government accounts prior to the payment of interest on the public debt. In July, the Central Government registered a R$ 7.223 billion deficit (equivalent to US$ 1.995 billion), also the worst result ever for the month in actual values and the second monthly deficit in a row. The deficits from the past two months have offset the R$ 6.626 billion primary surplus (US$ 1.830 billion) that was posted from January to May.
According to the Brazilian National Treasury, the slowdown in revenues is the main culprit in the poor performance of government accounts in 2015. From January to June, net revenues were down 5.7% discounting inflation. Total expenditure, however, remained almost level, having dropped by only 0.7%.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
