The federal government paid BRL 569.46 million in state arrears in March, the National Treasury Secretariat (STN) reported today (7). The numbers refer to debts guaranteed by the Union and not honored by five states. There were R$ 195.46 million related to delinquency in Rio de Janeiro; R$182.66 million from Rio Grande do Sul; R$109.91 million from Minas Gerais; R$76.40 million from Goiás and R$5.03 million from Rio Grande do Norte.
In the accumulated result for the year, the Federal Government paid R$ 2.12 billion in guaranteed debts from subnational entities. The states with the largest payments made by the Treasury were Minas Gerais (R$ 1.08 billion, or 50.93% of the total), Rio de Janeiro (R$ 429.58 million, or 20.30% of the total) and Goiás (R$ 410.94 million, or 19.41% of the total)
The guarantees represent the assets offered by the Union – represented by the National Treasury – to cover possible defaults on loans and financing from states, municipalities and other entities with national banks or foreign institutions, such as the IDB, Bird and the World Bank. As the guarantor of the operations, he is informed by the creditors that a certain portion of the contract has not been settled.
If the entity does not fulfill its obligations within the stipulated period, the Treasury compensates for the defaults, but deducts the amount covered by blocking ordinary federal transfers, in addition to preventing new financing.
The Treasury Department said that it monitors any delays in payment of contracts guaranteed by the Union, establishing deadlines for the settlement of pending issues, “alert debtors to the sanctions, penalties and consequences provided for in the contracts and in the relevant legislation”.
If the federative entity does not settle the pending issues, as in cases of honorable endorsement or delay in payments of guaranteed credit operations, it is prevented from obtaining a guarantee from the Union for new financing contracts for up to 12 months.
There are cases, however, of blocking the execution of counter-guarantees. Between 2019 and 2021, several states that obtained injunctions in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) suspending the execution.
“The Union is prevented from executing the counter-guarantees of several states that obtained injunctions in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) suspending the execution of said counter-guarantees and also those related to the State of Goiás, which is under the Tax Recovery Regime (RRF) established by the Federal Government. Complementary Law No. 159, of May 19, 2017 (amended by Complementary Law No. 178, of January 13, 2021),” informed the Treasury Department.
