Brasília, 4/26/2006 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The federal government says it will create additional savings of R$4 billion, corresponding to 0.2 percentage points of GDP, as part of its efforts to ensure that its total primary surplus target of 4,25% of GDP will be achieved this year.

According to Tarcisio Godoy, deputy secretary of the National Treasury, the measure is preventive. This being an election year, there is the chance that states and municipalities will have difficulties meeting their share of the primary surplus target, which is 1.1% of GDP.

In another step to ensure that the primary surplus remains on track, the government announced that it will require 40% of the target, instead of 30%, to be reached by the end of this month. That means the primary surplus at the end of April should be almost R$29 billion. At the end of March, it was R$14.6 billion. And by the end of the year, it should be slightly over R$70 billion.

Translation: Allen Bennett