States and municipalities have a surplus of R$ 10.3 billion in April, says BC

States and municipalities registered a primary surplus of R$ 10.3 billion in April, the Central Bank informed this Tuesday (31).

The result comes amid government offensives to limit the collection of ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services), the main source of revenue for regional governments.

The central government –comprised of the federal government, the Central Bank and the INSS– had a positive result of R$29.6 billion in the month, while state-owned companies had a deficit of R$1 billion.

Thus, the consolidated public sector registered, in April, a primary surplus of R$ 38.9 billion. In the same period of the previous year, the surplus was R$ 24.3 billion.

In the 12-month period up to April, the primary surplus of the consolidated public sector reached R$ 137.4 billion, equivalent to 1.52% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), compared to 1.37% in March.

Also according to the BC, public accounts had a positive result of R$ 148.5 billion in the first four months of this year.

The country’s gross debt dropped to 78.3% of GDP (R$7.1 trillion) in April, from 78.5% in March. “This evolution was mainly due to the effect of nominal GDP growth, net debt redemptions, nominal interest appropriated, and the effect of currency devaluation,” the BC said in a note.

Net debt fell to 57.9% of GDP (R$ 5.2 trillion) in April, against 58.2% in the previous month. “This result reflected, above all, the impacts of the effect of nominal GDP growth, the 3.8% exchange rate devaluation, the primary surplus, the nominal interest appropriated and the effect of the variation in the basket of currencies that make up the net external debt” , informed the municipality.

The BC released fiscal data on the scheduled date, despite the civil servants’ strike, in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Law, which requires the Executive to forward the document on compliance with fiscal goals for the four-month period between January and April to Congress by the end of May.

“In the preparation of this document, by the STN [Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional], ‘below the line’ fiscal statistics compiled by the BC are used. Thus, this activity has been defined as essential and is being carried out”, said the monetary authority. The publication of other financial indicators and reports remains suspended.