Brazil Posts Biggest Monthly Budget Deficit Since Covid-19 Pandemic

Brazil posted its largest budget deficit since the pandemic last month in a result that was much worse than expected, as the government made court-ordered payments and ramped up stimulus before October’s election.

The nation’s nominal budget gap widened to 199.5 billion reais ($39.9 billion) in March, bigger than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey that had a median estimate of a deficit of 153.9 billion reais, the central bank reported on Thursday. It was the largest shortfall since June 2020.