BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s central government posted a smaller-than-expected March primary budget surplus, Treasury data showed on Tuesday, but still delivered a strong first-quarter result, helped by the postponement of court-ordered payments.
Speaking at a press conference, Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron said the postponement of court-ordered payments was aimed at avoiding fiscal expansion in the first quarter and adding pressure on economic activity at this time, to support the central bank’s drive to cool inflation by slowing the economy.
The country’s primary budget surplus reached 1.1 billion reais ($195 million) in March, below the 1.3 billion reais forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
Despite the miss, the result reversed the 1 billion reais deficit recorded in the same month last year.
In the first quarter, the primary surplus reached 54.5 billion reais, more than double the 20.2 billion reais surplus posted in the same period of 2024.
The stronger year-on-year performance was largely driven by a calendar effect, as court-ordered payments fell by 31 billion reais due to a later payment schedule this year.
Over the 12-month period through March, the primary deficit stood at 10.9 billion reais, or 0.07% of gross domestic product (GDP), broadly in line with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s target of a balanced primary result this year, with a tolerance margin of 0.25% of GDP.
($1 = 5.6284 reais)
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Chizu Nomiyama)
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