Defect in the government’s public accounts rises to R$ 145.4 billion in 2023

The Ministry of Planning announced this Friday (21) that the gap in public accounts this year will be R$ 145.4 billion, in addition to an “excess expenditure” of over R$ 1.5 billion. The data are part of the portfolio’s third two-month report, which points to the need to block R$ 3.2 billion in the accumulated amount above the total limit of the Expenditure Ceiling.

The gap will be approximately R$ 9 billion above the previous projection, in June, and corresponds to 1.4% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). At the beginning of the year, Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, said that the government intended to reduce the primary deficit to less than 1%, which disregards the payment of interest on the public debt.

In addition to increasing the estimate of the gap in public accounts, the government reduced the estimate for primary revenues for the year from R$2.367 trillion to R$2.366 trillion, mainly due to the fall of R$9.3 billion in Social Security Revenue, R$5.6 billion in Cofins, R$3.1 billion in dividends, R$2.8 billion in PIS/Pasep, and R$2.2 billion in import tax.

Primary revenues had increases in:

• Other revenues managed by the Federal Revenue Service: R$12.1 billion;
• Income tax: BRL 6.5 billion;
• CSLL: BRL 3.6 billion.

Primary expenses saw a reduction of just R$ 1.9 billion in personnel and social charges, and an increase of R$ 4.6 billion in financial support to states and municipalities. The payment of social security benefits (R$ 2.4 billion) and subsidies and Proagro (R$ 1.2 billion) also weighed on the account.