PrintBrazil's March public sector gross debt exceeds 80% of GDP
BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 04/30/26 09:08 AM EDTSAO PAULO, April 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's public sector gross debt exceeded 80% of gross domestic product in March as the country posted a wider-than-expected primary deficit of 80.68 billion reais ($16.15 billion) for the month, central bank data showed on Thursday.
* Economists in a Reuters poll expected a shortfall of 66.75 billion reais
* The result compares with a 3.6 billion real surplus in March 2025
* Public sector gross debt hit 80.1% of gross domestic product, up from 79.2% in February and above the 79.6% expected by economists
* It is the first time since late 2021 that the metric has exceeded 80%, according to LSEG data
* The nominal deficit was 199.5 billion reais, also wider than the 148 billion reais forecast in the poll
* Brazil's central bank this week cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 14.50%
($1 = 4.9950 reais) (Reporting by Camila Moreira, Gabriel Araujo and Isabel Teles; Editing by Alex Richardson and Barbara Lewis)
