Brazil: Regional governments had highest primary surplus for March

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian states and municipalities had the highest primary surplus for March of the historical series of the Brazilian Central Bank (BC), which began in January 1991. The regional governments recorded a positive result of R$11.9 billion (US$2.4 billion) in the period, according to data released by the monetary authority on Monday, May 16.

The head of the statistics department of the Central Bank, Fernando Rocha, also said that, concerning the central government, the reversal of the surplus in 2021 (R$3.9 billion) to a deficit in March this year (R$7.8 billion) is explained by the payment of the salary bonus, of R$11 billion, and the Brazil Aid, of R$4 billion.

“It results from the increase in expenses, which was greater than the increase in revenues. In the month, net revenues rose 6.7%, and expenses grew 13.5%, year-on-year,” he said.

Regarding the gross debt, the BC representative observed that compared to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it is at the lowest level since April 2020, right after the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, when the government had to increase expenses to face the health crisis expressively. The percentage stood at 78.5% in March.

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