Central government accumulated primary deficit is $474.86 million in first half
The drop in revenue caused by the economic contraction had an impact on public accounts in the first half. 
The drop in revenue caused by the economic contraction had an impact on public accounts in the first half. From January to June, the central government's – which includes National Treasury, Social Security and Central Bank – accumulated primary deficit has hit $474.86 million.
In real (inflation-corrected), it is the worst result of the history for the first half of the year since the creation of the historical series in 1997.
In June, the registered deficit was $2,438.49 billion, which is also the worst result for the month in real terms. Last month's accumulated primary deficit annulled the primary surplus of $ 1,968.98 billion, collected from January to May.
According to the National Treasury, the drop in revenue is the main cause for the negative public accounts in 2015. From January to June, revenues fell 3.3% discounting inflation. Total expenses, however, were stable, rising 0.5%.
The stability of the expenditure is being pulled by investments, which totaled $ 8,260.13 billion in the first half of the year, an inflation-corrected drop of 36.2% compared to 2014. Of this amount, expenditures on Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) totaled $ 5,930.70 billion, with an inflation-corrected reduction of 36%. Another expense that had a decrease when considering inflation was functionalism, with an inflation-corrected drop of 1.3%.
However, other types of spending have been rising in 2015, including the costs (expenses on the maintenance of public administration), with inflation-corrected increase of 7.3% in 2015 and grants and subsidies, with inflation-corrected rise of 108.9% driven by the sponsorship of the Investment Support Program (Programa de Sustentação do Investimento), granted by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).
The costs of Social Security hit 3.8% above the National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) in 2015. According to Treasury, the inflation-corrected growth is due to the average increase of 8.1% in the value of benefits and the increase of 3.1% in the number of benefits paid.
The difficulties in cutting spending and increasing revenues has made the economic team to reduce to $ 8.7 billion – 0.15% of GDP – the primary surplus target for 2015. Of this amount, 0.10% - $1,723.52 - correspond to the Central Government's target.
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Central government accumulated primary deficit is $474.86 million in first half
