Brasília – The federal government reported this Friday (15) that its forecast for the primary surplus (savings to pay for interest rates on the public debt) is of 0.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the consolidated public sector in 2017. States and cities are responsible for the total of the savings; for the Central Government (National Treasure, Social Security and Central Bank) the estimated primary surplus is zero.
For 2018, the government’s economic staff expects a surplus of 0.8% of the GDP and, for 2019, of 1.4%.The numbers are part of the proposed budget Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentárias (LDO) 2017, sent this Friday to Congress. The budget also estimates that the government’s primary surplus can go from zero to a deficit.
By the LDO 2017 project, the government can ask Congress to remove BRL 42 billion (USD 11.83 billion) of non-collected revenues and BRL 23 billion (USD 6.47 billion) in costs with the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). The deficit, thus, would be of BRL 65 billion (USD 18.31 billion).
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
