Brazil Primary Budget Balance

The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) calculates consolidated fiscal statistics for the public sector, including net debt and financing needs, reflected in the Nominal Budget Balance and Primary Budget Balance of Brazil. Every month a Fiscal Statistics report is published, reflecting the Primary Surplus.

The difference between the government revenues and expenditures is the fiscal result, the calculations of which are performed using the nominal, operational and primary results.

The nominal result refers to the difference between the total movement of total revenues (including financial investments) and total expenses (including interest expenses), which corresponds to the Public Sector Financing Need (NFSP).

The operating result corresponds to the nominal result less the monetary restatement of the net debt, used to leave out the impact of inflation.

The primary result corresponds to the nominal result excluding the portion referring to nominal interest (real interest plus monetary restatement) levied on the net debt, in order to verify the achievement of the target established in the Law of Budgetary Guidelines (LDO).

The primary surplus is an indication of how much the government has saved over a period of time (one month, one semester, one year) to pay interest on its debt.

A positive value of the Primary Budget Balance indicates a primary budget surplus, which may have a positive effect on the Brazilian real.