Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government is seeking to loosen its own budget targets as investor concerns rise about the risk of fiscal slippage in Latin America’s largest economy. The leftwing administration has presented proposals that would water down its prior aim of achieving a primary surplus next year and in 2026. They would need congressional approval to proceed. The original commitments were laid out a little over a year ago and underpinned Brasilia’s claims of balancing responsible management of the public accounts with increased state expenditure. But now ministers intend simply to balance the budget next year, replacing the previous goal for income to exceed outgoings by 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product.” (04/16/24)