BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s central government posted a primary budget surplus in January that was slightly below market expectations, as inflation-adjusted spending growth outpaced revenue gains, Treasury data showed on Thursday.
The primary surplus, which excludes interest payments, reached 84.9 billion reais ($14.6 billion) for the month – traditionally a positive period – falling short of the 88.5 billion reais expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Still, the result marked an improvement from the 79.5 billion reais surplus recorded in January last year.
The surplus came on the back of a 3.7% real increase in net revenues over a year earlier, while government spending rose 4.4%.
Over the 12-month period, the central government posted a primary deficit of 42.2 billion reais, or 0.32% of gross domestic product.
The official target for the year is to balance the budget, with a tolerance range of 0.25% of GDP in either direction, which means the government can run a deficit of up to 31 billion reais.
($1 = 5.8268 reais)
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Leslie Adler)
