Government accounts have a gap of R$58.444 billion, the worst balance in the historical series for February – News

The accounts of the so-called central government recorded a deficit of R$58.444 billion in February. The balance — which brings together the National Treasury, Social Security and Central Bank accounts — was the worst performance in real terms for the month in the National Treasury’s historical series, which began in 1997. The numbers were released this Tuesday (26).

In February 2023, the result had been negative by R$41 billion (uncorrected value).

In the year to February, the central government recorded a surplus of R$20.940 billion, the worst result since 2020. In the same period last year, this same result was positive at R$38.291 billion (uncorrected value).

In February, revenues increased by 18% in real terms compared to the same month last year. In the first two months of the year, there was an increase of 9%. Expenses rose 27.4% in February, already discounting inflation. In the accumulated result for this two months, the variation was positive at 17.1%.

In 12 months, the central government presented a deficit of R$252.9 billion — equivalent to 2.26% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the sum of everything produced in the country. Since January 2024, the National Treasury has started reporting the relationship between the volume of expenditure over GDP, as the fiscal framework seeks to stabilize public spending.

In the last 12 months, mandatory expenses totaled 18.2% in relation to GDP, while the Executive’s discretionary expenses reached 1.7%.

Goals

For 2024, the federal government pursues two goals. One is the primary result, which must be neutral (0% of GDP), allowing a variation of 0.25 percentage points more or less, as established in the fiscal framework. The limit would be a deficit of up to R$28.8 billion. The other is the expenditure limit, set at R$2.089 trillion for this year.

In the last Bimonthly Revenue and Expense Assessment Report, published in March, the Ministry of Planning and Budget estimated a deficit result of R$9.3 billion in this year’s accounts, equivalent to 0.1% of GDP.

Balances of each component of the central government

The National Treasury accounts — including the Central Bank and excluding Social Security — recorded a deficit of R$34.635 billion in February, according to the federal government. For the year, the accumulated surplus in these accounts is R$61.433 billion.

The result of Social Security was a deficit of R$ 23.809 billion last month. In the first two months of 2024, the result was negative by R$40.493 billion.

The Central Bank’s accounts alone had a surplus of R$38 million in February and a deficit of R$107 million in the first two months of 2024.