Edla Lula
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The Central Bank has released a report on the economy. Up to the end of November, the government was running a primary surplus of US$4.5 billion; the equivalent of 5.6% of GDP (for the sake of comparison, the primary surplus target for 2006 is 4.25% of GDP, or approximately US$37.9 billion).

Joaquim Levy, the head of the Secretariat of the National Treasury, reports that the final 2005 result will be superior to the government's target because all the players, both the states and the federal government, have surpluses above last year's target which was also 4.25% of GDP.

Translation: Allen Bennett