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Brazil government beats fiscal target
January 4, 2014, 5:40 am

Mantega on Friday said favorable conditions of a global recovery would boost Brazil’s prospects in 2014 [AP]

Mantega on Friday said favorable conditions of a global recovery would boost Brazil’s prospects in 2014 [AP]

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday that the central government beat its primary surplus target in 2013.

Mantega said the government is keeping spending under control even as it tried to quell fears over the economy.

“We will continue with the fiscal effort to control expenses,” Mantega said on Friday. “We will have a good fiscal result in 2014.”

“It would not be good to keep analyst expectations hanging until the end of January. This will calm nerves,” the Finance Minister added.

The primary budget surplus, Mantega said, would be above the goal of 73 billion Brazilian Reais for 2013 ($30.5 billion), equivalent to about 1.5% of gross domestic product.

“We met our fiscal result and we did a little bit more than 1.5% of GDP,” Mr. Mantega told reporters at a news conference in Brasilia.

HSBC’s Purchasing Managers’ Index survey released earlier this week has shown that manufacturing activity in Brazil has moved from contraction to expansion.

Mantega on Friday said favorable conditions of a global recovery would boost Brazil’s prospects in 2014.

“We are on a positive trajectory for the Brazilian economy,” he said.

 

Source: Agencies