Brazil’s public sector may have in 2021 its first primary surplus since 2013 -Treasury

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The consolidated public sector, which includes the federal government, states, municipalities, and public enterprises, may close 2021 with a primary surplus in public accounts, predicts the National Treasury.

This would be the first positive result since 2013. Since then, the public accounts have accumulated eight consecutive years of primary deficit. The immediate consequence is revenue minus expenses without considering interest expenses.

The information was given on Wednesday (29) by the Secretary of the National Treasury, Paulo Valle. “Today, we have a strong indication that there will be a primary surplus in 2021 considering the entire general public sector. It would be the first primary surplus since 2013,” he said.

This should occur, according to him, because the primary deficit of the Central Government (National Treasury, Social Security, and the Central Bank) will be smaller than initially expected, staying below the primary surplus of the state accounts.

“From January to November, in the Central Government, we have a deficit of R$49 (US$8.75) billion. States and municipalities had a surplus of R$100 billion. These R$100 billion will decrease because this month of December there are more expenses, and the R$49 billion [of Central Government deficit] will increase a little.

If it is, for example, about R$ 0 billion [deficit] of the Central Government and the states [surplus] is, for example, R$75 billion, we are talking about a primary surplus of about R$5 billion,” said Valle.

In November, the federal government’s public accounts had a positive balance of R$3.9 billion, the best performance since 2013.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error