Brazil’s Central Government accounts – National Treasury, Social Security, and the Central Bank – registered a primary deficit of R$40.989 (US$8) billion, more than double the R$20.367 billion deficit recorded in February 2022.
This is the worst result for February since the beginning of the historical series in 1997.
The result came worse than expected by financial institutions, reported Agência Brasil.
According to the Fiscal Prism survey, market analysts expected a negative impact of R$31.9 billion in January.
Despite the loss in February, the Central Government accumulated a primary surplus of R$37.768 billion in 2023. In January, a R$78.326 billion surplus was recorded.
In January, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, announced a package to increase tax collection and review spending to improve public accounts and reduce the deficit to about R$100 billion by 2023.
The primary result represents the difference between revenues and expenditures, disregarding the interest payment on public debt.
This year’s Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) establishes a primary deficit target of R$231.5 billion for the Central Government.