The reestimation of revenues and the postponement of the transfer of resources from the Aldir Blanc Law made the government release R$1.7 billion from the Budget blocked last week. The Ministry of Planning and Budget published a new version of the Income and Expense Assessment Report this Friday (29) evening.
With the release, the volume of resources frozen in this year’s Budget fell from R$19.3 billion to R$17.6 billion. The blockade was reduced because Planning officially postponed R$1.71 billion from the Aldir Blanc Law. Alleging low execution of cultural projects by states and municipalities, the government issued, on the 22nd, a provisional measure that conditions transfers of resources to the progress of projects financed by law.
Primary deficit
Called “extemporaneous” by the Ministry of Planning, the new report also reduced the primary deficit forecast from R$65.303 billion to R$64.426 billion. The reduction occurred because the Federal Attorney General’s Office reported that around R$2.7 billion from the version of Desenrola for regulatory agencies should enter the government’s coffers later this year. In the report published last week, the estimate for these revenues was zero.
When considering only expenses subject to the fiscal framework ceiling, the primary deficit forecast fell from R$28.737 billion to R$27.747 billion. As the projection is within the tolerance margin of the fiscal framework, which allows a deficit of up to R$28.756 billion (0.25% of Gross Domestic Product), there was no need for contingency.
The primary deficit represents the difference between government revenues and expenditures without interest on public debt. Among the expenses outside the ceiling of the fiscal framework are extraordinary credits for the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul, fighting forest fires and the payment of outstanding court orders.
Both the contingency and the blockade represent temporary spending cuts. The new fiscal framework, however, established different motivations. Blocking occurs when government spending grows more than the limit of 70% of revenue growth above inflation. Contingency occurs when there is a lack of revenue that compromises the achievement of the primary result target (result of government accounts without interest on public debt).
Detailing
Also on Friday night, the Ministry of Planning published details of the blocking of R$17.6 billion per ministry. In absolute values, the most affected departments are the Ministries of Health (R$4.39 billion), Education (R$3.04 billion) and Cities (R$2.47 billion). Next come the Ministries of Transport (R$1.94 billion) and Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger (R$1.04 billion).
According to legislation, the government must issue the presidential decree detailing the spending block within ten days after the publication of the Bimonthly Income and Expense Assessment Report. In this case, the deadline took into account the publication of the original report, on Friday last week, but the numbers were updated with the reduction of the blockade by R$1.7 billion.
