Brazil government finances improve, but tight spending controls to remain

Brazil’s public finances improved in October, Treasury figures showed on Thursday, as a seasonally expected monthly surplus helped reduce the government’s overall deficit this year and keep it on track to come in below target.

Still, the 8.7 billion reais ($2.1 billion) primary budget surplus in October was less than economists had expected and social security spending continued to rise, highlighting the underlying strains on the public accounts.

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