BRASILIA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Brazil’s central government easily met its 2017 primary budget deficit target after rising tax revenue led to a smaller-than-expected December shortfall, government data showed on Monday.
The central government, comprised of the federal government, social security and the central bank, posted a deficit of 124.401 billion reais ($39.3 billion) in 2017 before interest rate payments, down 23 percent from the year before. The December deficit totaled 21.168 billion reais, below the median estimate of 25.2 billion reais in a Reuters poll.
$1 = 3.17 reais Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Writing by Bruno Federowski
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