Brazil congress approves 2010 budget guidelines

BRASILIA, July 15 (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress approved late on Wednesday budget guidelines for 2010 after the governing coalition and opposition lawmakers agreed on changes to the initial proposal passed last week at a congressional committee.

The bill lays out the economic parameters and spending priorities for the budgets of the executive, legislative and judiciary branches, including state-owned companies.

The bill proposes a primary budget surplus target, which excludes interest payments, of 3.3 percent of gross domestic product next year. In April, the government slashed the budget surplus target to 2.5 percent from 3.8 percent to allow for spending to boost economic growth.

The so-called LDO bill, according to its Portuguese acronym, would allow the government to deduct up to 5.6 billion reais in spending on public infrastructure projects from the primary surplus target. (Reporting by Fernando Exman, Writing by Elzio Barreto; editing by Carol Bishopric)