Fitch Ratings forecasts Latin American economies will rebound this year from the 2020 recession but risks remain in particular because of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brazil's government posted a primary budget deficit of 96.1 billion reais (US$ 17 billion) in August, the Treasury said on Monday, as the coronavirus crisis continued to necessitate huge emergency spending.
Brazil’s government is on course to post a primary budget deficit of 861 billion reais (US$ 157 billion) this year, the Economy Ministry said in its bimonthly revenue and expenditure report on Tuesday, factoring in extended emergency transfers to the poor through the end of December.
Brazil’s government on Thursday revised its 2020 fiscal outlook, forecasting significantly higher debt and wider deficits due to the COVID-19 crisis, and said it will be over a decade before public debt falls back to last year’s level.
The United States on Tuesday reported a record US$738 billion budget deficit in April, as an explosion in government spending and a shrinking of revenues amid the novel coronavirus pandemic put it deep into the red.
The Brazilian government's interest payment bill on the national debt could fall by 417 billion reais (some US$ $100 billion) over the course of its four-year term ending in 2022, by which time the primary budget deficit could also be completely eliminated, a senior Economy Ministry official said on Thursday.
Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell urged Congress on Wednesday to take action on the rising US debt and deficit to ensure the continued growth of the American economy. Called before the Joint Economic Committee to discuss the economic outlook, the central bank chief stressed that it was not his role to give policy advice, before he gave diplomatically-worded policy advice.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will try to build momentum for his government's market-friendly reforms on Tuesday, proposing new measures to tackle a budget deficit that are likely to be met with skepticism among lawmakers.
President Lenin Moreno and leaders of Ecuador's Indigenous peoples struck a deal late Sunday to cancel a disputed austerity package and end nearly two weeks of protests that have paralyzed the economy and left seven dead.
Brazilian outgoing president Michel Temer said on Thursday his government will leave a primary budget deficit fewer than 130 billion reais (US$ 33.3 billion) when he hands over the reins to President-elect Jair Bolsonaro on January first.