Brazilian government revenue for August, which includes federal taxes and contributions, reached 74.608 billion reais (US$ 41.96 billion), a real increase of 8.11%, compared to August 2010, and up 17.63%, compared to the prior month, July 2011.
Cumulative government revenue for the year, January to August, has now reached 630.464 billion reais (US$ 354.59 billion), a new record, up in real terms 13.26%, compared to the same period last year.
According to the IRS, some factors during the period between December 2010 and July 2011 that influenced the results were: an increase of 1.53% in industrial output, growth of 12.77% in sales, an increase of 15.96% in salary mass and a variation in the value of the dollar for imports of 28.39%.
Deficits Up
On the other hand, Brazil’s deficits in international transactions in August were the highest since records began in 1947.
The current account deficit for August was US$ 3.2 billion. For the sake of comparison, a year ago, in August 2010, the country’s account deficit was US$ 2.9 billion.
According to Tulio Maciel, the head of the Economic Department at the Central Bank, remittances were the main reason for the deficit spike. Maciel points out that just in August remittances of profits and dividends totaled US$ 5.109 billion (a record), bringing the total of remittances in 2011 (January to August) to US$ 25.699 billion (another record). All that has led the Central Bank to revise its deficit forecast for 2011 upward to US$ 38 billion.
Another foreign transaction account, the revenues account, which measures profit and dividend remittances along with salaries and interest payments, had a deficit of US$ 5.526 billion in August, for a cumulative total for the year of US$ 30.958 billion.
Yet another account, services (international travel, transportation, equipment rental and others) had a deficit of US$ 3.440 billion, and US$ 24.772 billion for the year.
Brazil finances part of its international account deficits with direct foreign investments (money from aboard that goes into production, as opposed to speculation). In August, direct foreign investments totaled $5.006 billion, the highest for the month since August 2004.
Direct foreign investments for the year, January to August, are now at US$ 44.085 billion – another record for the period.
The Central Bank estimates that total direct foreign investment for 2011 will reach US$ 60 billion.
Brazil also had a foreign trade surplus of US$ 3.874 billion in August, which brings the cumulative surplus for the year to US$ 33.784 billion, compared to US$ 31.411 billion during the same period last year.
