Government closed 2024 close to the center of the fiscal target, says Ceron

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The central government’s accounts in 2024 were within the tolerance band of the fiscal target, close to the center of the target, National Treasury Secretary Rogério Ceron said this Wednesday.

The primary result target for 2024 is zero deficit, with a tolerance of 0.25 percentage points of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which corresponds to around 29 billion reais.

Fiscal data for the year 2024 will only be officially presented by the Treasury at the end of this month.

According to the secretary, the year’s data was helped by the so-called empoçamento — funds that were made available, but ended up not being disbursed by ministries. This surplus was close to 20 billion reais in the year, a level that was already expected, according to him.

For 2025, the secretary said the government will seek to aim for the center of the zero deficit target, not the rule’s tolerance limit, of 0.25 points of GDP.

Asked about the possible adoption of new cost containment measures, Ceron stated that the monitoring of fiscal management by the Treasury is constant and that the body points out, suggests and supports the adoption of adjustment initiatives when it understands that there is a need. According to him, this work is constant.

“The objective is to continue the fiscal recovery process, which is happening,” he said.

In the interview, the secretary also stated that the state debt renegotiation project, sanctioned this week, should generate annual relief of 20 billion reais for regional governments, in “more extreme” scenarios.

He explained that this is a financial cost, which does not impact the federal government’s primary result.