Public accounts have a surplus of R$ 19.3 billion in July, the best result in 11 years

Central government accounts had a surplus of R$ 19.3 billion in July, the second best result of the entire historical series, only below July 2011, the National Treasury informed this Tuesday (30).

The positive result shows that the government raised more than it spent last month. The data includes the National Treasury, Social Security and Central Bank accounts.

In the first semester, the government had already registered a surplus of R$ 53.6 billion. With the result of July, the result of the accounts was even more positive, reaching R$ 73.1 billion.

In this comparison, the balance is the best for the period since 2012, after discounting the effects of inflation.

The official projection of the Ministry of Economy, updated on July 22, indicates that the central government’s accounts will end the year with a deficit of R$ 59.4 billion – of which R$ 35.4 billion are due to effective government spending. , while the rest is provoked by an accounting operation to end the legal dispute for Campo de Marte.

Although negative, the result would be much smaller than that authorized by the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law), which allows for a deficit of up to R$ 170.5 billion.

However, Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) and his assistants point out that the effective result of the accounts in 2022 should be positive, thanks to the significant growth in revenues.

In July, the Federal Revenue recorded a collection of R$ 171.3 billion, which represents a record for the month. Real growth, after discounting inflation for the period, was 35.5% compared to July last year.

The economic team also has extraordinary gains, such as the payment of more dividends from state-owned companies — a request forwarded by the ministry itself to the banks to reinforce the cash.

The data released by the Treasury this Tuesday also show a significant advance in total government revenue. The performance was helped by the receipt of R$ 6.9 billion in dividends from Petrobras, in addition to higher tax collection.

Total revenue had a real growth of 8.7% in July compared to the same month of 2021, while expenses had a drop of 17.9%, already discounting inflation.

Spending fell mainly because of a comparison effect, as in July 2021 there was the payment of part of the 13th of retirees and pensioners of the INSS (National Institute of Social Security). This year, the transfers were brought forward to April and May.

There was also a reduction of R$ 3.5 billion in real terms in personnel expenses, due to the salary freeze for civil servants. The expense with Auxílio Brasil grew by R$ 6 billion, in the wake of the increase in the value of the benefit compared to that practiced in July 2021.

Year-to-date, total revenue increased 15.1%, while expenditure fell 1.9%, always in real terms.