Brazil’s govt debt falls to 78.5% of GDP in March amid new primary surplus

Reuters

BRASILIA -Brazil’s government debt as a share of gross domestic product fell to 78.5% in March, the lowest level in almost two years, with improved revenues in states and municipalities leading to a new primary surplus for the month.

That compares with a gross debt of 79.2% of GDP in February, to the best result since April 2020 (78.4%), when the country was beginning to be hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Booming revenue, helped by a surge in commodities, has lifted the government’s budget, while expenditures have not grown at the same pace due to a constitutional spending cap.

The public sector surplus excluding interest payments reached 4.3 billion reais ($846.54 million) in March, which led to a surplus equivalent to 1.37% of GDP in the 12 months.


Brazil’s states and municipalities posted a 11.9 billion-reais surplus in the month, once again benefiting from larger federal government transfers and higher fuel-related revenues.


State-owned companies recorded a 242 million-reais surplus and the central government posted a 7.8 billion-reais deficit.

The figures, released late due to a continuing strike by central bank employees, also showed a nominal result, which includes the payment of interest on the public debt, of a 26.5 billion-reais deficit in March.

The 12-month nominal deficit dropped to 3.15% in March, from 3.38% in February.

($1 = 5.0795 reais)

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXNPEI4F0JK-BASEIMAGE

You appear to be using an ad blocker

Shore News Network is a free website that does not use paywalls or charge for access to original, breaking news content. In order to provide this free service, we rely on advertisements. Please support our journalism by disabling your ad blocker for this website.