Expenditure with interest of public debt is the lowest in 11 years
Valor Econômico 01/29/2009
The constitution of the Brazilian Sovereign Fund, with funds amounting to R$ 14.2 billion (US$ 6.2 billion), caused the greatest primary monthly deficit in the statistic series of the Central Bank, started in 1991, and helped pushing up the net debt of the public sector, which increased one percentage point in December. That did not prevent, however, that in 2008 the country had one of the best fiscal performances in its recent history. The primary surplus of the public sector reached 4.07% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008, the greatest since 2005 and the third greatest of the fiscal statistics. The expenditure with interest of the public debt represented 5.59% of the GDP, the lowest percentage in 11 years. The nominal deficit was equivalent to 1.53% of the GDP, best result in history. The net debt fell six points, from 42% to 36% of the GDP, between December of 2007 and of 2008. Besides falling in relation to the GDP, the net debt of the public sector also shrunk R$ 80 billion (US$ 43.7 billion) in nominal terms, going from R$ 1.150 trillion (US$ 596 billion) to R$ 1.070 trillion (US$ 584 billion). The foreign exchange appreciation had an effect of R$ 98.2 billion (US$ 53.7 billion) to reduce the net debt, and the primary surplus, of R$ 118 billion (US$ 64.5 billion). The two factors more than made up for the negative effect of the expenditure with the interest from the debt. The Central Bank foresees a fall of 1 percentage point in the net debt, to 35% of the GDP for 2009. The expected nominal debt is 1% of the GDP, taking as base a primary surplus of 3.8% of the GDP.