Brazil's budget surplus in July down 71% from last year
- Source: Xinhua
- [12:49 August 28 2009]
- Comments
The Brazilian government reported Thursday a primary budget surplus of 3.18 billion reais (1.69 billion US dollars) for the consolidated public sector in July, roughly the same as in June but down 71 percent from the same period in 2008.
The consolidated primary surplus combines yields of federal government, local governments and state-owned companies, except for oil and gas giant Petrobras.
Including interest payments, totaling 16.1 billion reais (8.56 billion dollars), Brazil posted an overall, or nominal budget deficit, of 12.9 billion reais (6.86 billion US dollars) in July.
In the 12 months to July 2009, the surplus totaled 52.08 billion reais (27.7 billion dollars). The federal government reported a surplus of 4.84 billion reais (2.57 billion dollars), while the local and state governments had a surplus of 797 million reais (423.9 million dollars) and the state-owned companies' 692 million reais (368 million dollars).
In the first seven months of 2009, Brazil accumulated a primary surplus of 38.4 billion reais (20.4 billion dollars), down 58.5 percent from that of the same period last year.
The seven-month surplus, equal to 2.25 percent of the Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP), was down from 5.63 percent of the GDP in 2008 and below the government's target of 2.5 percent.
The primary budget surplus, which excludes interest payments, is closely watched by investors as a gauge of the country's ability to service its debt.
