Government accounts suffer from a gap of R$68.7 billion in the first semester

The government has presented a deficit of 68.7 billion Brazilian reals In the public accounts in the first half of 2024. There was a worsening compared to the same period in 2023, when the deficit reached R$43.2 billion in nominal terms – a variation of 58.9%.

The result is the worst in the period since 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic began. At that time, the deficit amounted to R$417.3 billion in current values.

Hey National wealth The balance sheet was released on Friday (July 26, 2024). Here complete (PDF – 875 KB) For presentation. The result relates to the accounts of the central government, which includes the National Treasury, Social Security and the Central Bank.

In practice, the current gap makes it difficult for the government to achieve the 2024 fiscal target, which sets a zero deficit. On Monday (July 22), the economic team raised the deficit forecast for 2024, from R$14.5 billion to R$32.6 billion.

The new projection exceeds the allowed margin for this year. Therefore, the government will allocate a contingency of R$3.8 billion in the budget. Therefore, the estimate remains within the tolerance period – 0.25 percentage points (pp) of GDP – to achieve the target. In nominal terms, the government could spend up to R$28.8 billion more than revenues in 2024.

Read the path of government accounts in the first quarter from 2013 to 2024:

Revenues

Total revenues amounted to R$1.32 trillion in the period from January to June 2024, representing a real increase of 8.5% compared to the same period in 2023. In values, there was an increase of R$103.3 billion compared to the two semesters.

Net revenues – which indicate the amount the government has after transfers to federal entities – amounted to R$1.06 trillion – an increase of R$83.2 billion (8.5%) in real terms from the first half of 2023 to the same period in 2024.

The Treasury says the difference is mainly due to these factors:

• Coffins (contribution to social security financing) – An increase of R$36.2 billion;
• Income tax – An increase of R$29.4 billion;
• Net income from social security – Growth of R$13.4 billion;
• Pis (Social Integration Programme)/Pasep (Public Heritage Service Training Programme) – An increase of R$9.8 billion;
• Other recipes – Down 9.7 billion.

Expenses

Primary expenditures amounted to R$1.13 trillion, an increase of R$107.3 billion (real increase of 10.5%) in the first half of 2024 compared to the first six months of 2023. Among the expenditures that affected are:

• Social Security Benefits – Growth of R$40 billion;
• Expenses subject to financial programming – An increase of R$30.2 billion;
• Judgments and Court Orders – An increase of R$12.9 billion;
• BPC (Billing Continuous) – An increase of 8 billion Brazilian reals;
• Exceptional credits – It rose to 7.5 billion Brazilian reals.

June

In June, the deficit was R$38.8 billion. In the same month of 2023, the deficit was R$45.1 billion.

The result represents a decrease of 13.8% in June 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.