Brazil’s Lula Now More Likely to Keep Zero-Deficit Goal, Eurasia Says
- Garman sees odds slightly in favor of unchanged fiscal target
- Lula reaction to expected popularity drop poses 2024 risk
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Photographer: Andressa Anholete/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
It is increasingly likely that Brazil’s government will maintain its zero-deficit fiscal target for 2024 despite President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s doubts about the goal’s importance, according to the Eurasia Group.
Lula’s late October questioning of his own finance minister’s aim of eliminating next year’s primary budget deficit, which excludes interest payments, led many analysts to predict the government would ultimately abandon the goal, said Christopher Garman, the managing director for the Americas at the New York-based political risk consultancy.