Brazil Fin Min official confirms deficit report
Reuters, Friday, February 20, 1998 at 17:54
BRASILIA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - A Brazilian Finance Ministry
official confirmed a newspaper report that the country's
consolidated public sector deficit widened unexpectedly in
December, sharply raising the gap for 1997 as a whole.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the deficit
in nominal terms ended the year at an equivalent of 6.0 percent
of gross domestic product.
Market expectations had been for a nominal deficit close to
5.0 percent of GDP.
The official also confirmed a deficit in primary terms --
which excludes debt costs -- of about 0.5 percent of GDP.
The government's original target for 1997 was for a primary
surplus of 1.5 percent of GDP.
In operational terms -- including inflation-adjusted debt
costs -- the deficit was approximately 3.8 percent of GDP, the
official said.
Brazil's Central Bank had been due to announce the figures
officially Friday, but postponed their release until next
Thursday, after Carnival celebrations.
"They transferred the announcement from today because it
would have been dangerous on the eve of a public holiday," said
the Finance Ministry official.
A spokesman for the Central Bank said officials had decided
to put back the announcement of the figures until next week
because of "an overload of work."
"The Central Bank will not comment on this report for the
time being," the spokesman said. "The numbers are being drawn
up and it is therefore not the right time to comment on them."
Financial daily Gazeta Mercantil Friday quoted a government
official as saying he believed the numbers might be a mistake.
"These numbers are very strange and cast doubt on the
Central Bank's methods of calculation," the official told the
newspaper.
The official told Gazeta that the poor figures in the
report were caused by a one percentage point slip in the budget
performance of state and municipal governments from November to
December.
william.schomberg@reuters.com))
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service |
