Brazil's gross debt hits record 88.8 percent of GDP

BRASILIA.KAZINFORM Brazil's gross debt rose in August to 88.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), a month-on-month increase of 2.4 percent, hitting a record high, the Central Bank of Brazil reported on Wednesday.

The gross debt of the general government, made up of the federal government, the Social Security Institute, and state and municipal governments, reached 6.39 trillion reals (about 1.14 trillion U.S. dollars) in August, Xinhua reports.

Net public sector debt in August reached 4.367 trillion reals (about 778.33 billion dollars), an increase of 0.6 percent over the previous month.

From January to August, the primary deficit of the Brazilian public sector reached 571.4 billion reals (about 101.84 billion dollars), compared to 22 billion reals (about 3.9 billion dollars) seen in the same period in 2019.

In the 12-month period ending in August, the primary deficit reached 611.3 billion reals (about 108.95 billion dollars), equivalent to 8.5 percent of Brazil's GDP.

These figures refer to the fiscal performance of the federal government, the state and municipal governments, as well as state-owned companies, excluding banks, the oil company Petrobras, and the energy company Eletrobras, and without taking interest into account.

In the last 12 months, interest payments totaled 322.2 billion reals (about 57.43 billion dollars), equivalent to 4.48 percent of Brazil's GDP, compared to 349.2 billion reals (about 62.24 billion dollars), or 4.91 percent of GDP, in the same period last year.