Brasília, September 30, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The secretary of Economic Accompaniment of the Ministry of Finance, Marcos Lisboa, affirmed on Monday (29) that the country had never before experienced an equilibrium in foreign accounts like the current one, after emerging from a crisis, such as the one the Administration faced when it took office.
Remarking on data from September's Economic Accompaniment Bulletin, released on Monday (29), Lisboa affirmed that one of the points of equilibrium most favorable to the government is the growth in government savings, composed of net revenues and investments, excluding transfers and interest payments. It is, he stated, the way for the government to invest more, expanding the activities of the public sector, with stability.
According to the secretary, August's results for the Central Government's (Treasury, Social Security, and Central Bank) cumulative savings in current accounts over the last 12 months achieved the highest total in the past four years for the month of August, attaining the equivalent of 3.5%¨of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
In his evaluation, the fiscal adjustment measures adopted by the government for the country to emerge rapidly from the crisis were good ones. The Fiscal Accompaniment Bulletin, which was also released, reviews the consolidated public sector's primary results in recent years, stating that, in 2003, from the start of the year, fiscal policy guidelines indicated the government's firm intention to guarantee the consistency of public accounts over the medium and long term and to promote an improvement in the quality of the fiscal adjustment carried out in recent years.
The government's establishment of primary surplus targets (revenues less expenditures, excluding interest payments) for the coming years, equivalent to 4.25% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) - 2.45% for the central government, 0.7% for federal government enterprises, and 1.1% for state and municipal governments - demonstrates a commitment to reducing the ratio between public sector debt and the GDP, a basic pillar of economic stability. (DAS)
