BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s primary budget deficit will almost certainly top 11% of gross domestic product this year, Treasury Secretary Mansueto Almeida said on Monday, adding that proposals to extend emergency payments to low-paid workers will cost an extra 100 billion reais ($189 billion), or 1.9% of GDP.
Speaking in a virtual news conference after record deficit figures were released for May, Almeida said the government is fully committed to meeting its spending cap rule this year and beyond, and that additional fiscal adjustment will be needed to ensure it is met beyond 2022.
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres and Jamie McGeever in Brasilia; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
