MNI BRIEF: Law Requires Budget Unfreeze With Higher Revenues
MNI (BRASILIA) - The executive secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Planning and Budget, Gustavo Guimaraes, said Monday that the law mandates unfreezing part of the budget due to increased revenues.
"As we register a revenue result that enables unfreezing, we are legally required to proceed. Avoiding it is not an option. We have also seen a rise in mandatory expenditures, which necessitated a new freeze," Guimarães stated at a press conference.
The government reversed BRL 3.8 billion in budget freezes linked to higher net revenue Friday. Overall, the total freeze decreased by BRL 1.7 billion compared to the third quarter, lowering it to BRL 13.3 billion from BRL 15 billion, a measure that wasn't well received by the market, causing the real to weaken to 5.54 today, up from BRL 5.42 on Thursday.