Paulo Trevisani – The Wall Street Journal, 7/31/2015
Brazil announced Friday another setback to government efforts to increase savings and balance its books amid a deep economic contraction.
The government posted a 9.3 billion Brazilian reais ($2.8 billion) primary deficit in June, the country’s central bank said. That compares with a primary deficit of 6.9 billion reais in May and brings the 12-month result to a 45.7 billion reais deficit, equal to 0.8% of gross domestic product. This year’s target is a surplus 0.15% of GDP.
“It is a bad result,” said João Pedro Brugger, an economist at Leme Investimentos, an asset-management firm in São Paulo. “The government will have to make additional efforts to meet its target,” something particularly difficult when the economy is weak, he said.
Brazil Portal 