The National Congress approved, on Wednesday (16) a substitutive text to the project by the government (PLN 01/07), related to Brazil’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), that modifies 2007 Law of Budgetary Directives (LDO), in order to allow the reduction of public sector primary surplus. The aim is to increase expenditures with the Pilot Project on Investments (PPI). The infrastructure works settled by PPI may receive R$ 6.68 billion extra resources, which may lead to a R$ 11.28 billion raise in total expenditures still on this year. Now the bill awaits the president’s sanction.

If the government comprises to the PPI new limit for expenditures, primary surplus target will be reduced to 3.75% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – by previous statistical methodologies adopted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The target is related to government savings designed for paying its debt interests. It was fixed in 4.25% of the GDP. The expenditures with PPI including projects of high economic return (such as roads, ports and ferries) are not bound to contingency during budget settlement.