São Paulo – The government registered between January and August a primary deficit of R$ 14.01 billion (US$ 3.43 billion), the highest for the period since the start of the historical series in 1997. In August, however, the R$ 5.08 billion (US$ 1.24 billion) deficit was lower than the one recorded in the same month of last year, which stood at R$ 10.45 billion (US$ 2.56 billion). According to data from the period presented this Tuesday (29th) by the National Treasury Secretariat, government expenses dropped, but revenues also did.
The data concerns the performance of the central government, which includes the Treasury, the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) and the Central Bank. The improved performance in August of this year over August of last year is due to the delay in payment of the first installment of the 13th salary (extra monthly wage guaranteed by Brazilian labor laws) and cuts in social expenses.
Even with the deficit, the government has as its goal to close the year with a surplus, which is the savings used to pay interest rates of the public debt, of 0.15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The expected surplus amounts to R$ 8.7 billion (US$ 2.13 billion).
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
