The unemployment rate in Brazil has fallen below 6% for the first time, according to the country’s statistics institute, IBGE.
In the first half of the year, the unemployment rate stood at 7% of the active population.
Furthermore, the Central Bank announced that Brazil’s budget deficit decreased by 0.28 points between May and June, reaching 7.30% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the past twelve months, while the country’s public debt rose to 76.6% of GDP.
Latin America’s largest economy has been gradually reducing its chronic public account imbalance since March, when the deficit was 7.90% of GDP.
In absolute terms, the nominal fiscal deficit, which accounts for interest payments on debt, amounted to 894.4 billion reais (140 billion euros) in the twelve months ending in June (7.30% of GDP).
The primary result, which is a domestic reference that excludes debt interest, showed a deficit of 47.1 billion reais (7.34 billion euros) in June alone, reflecting a 15.1% increase compared to the same month in 2024 and a 39.6% rise from May.
The central government, regional administrations, and state-owned companies spent more than they collected in the sixth month of 2025.
Conversely, Brazil’s gross public debt rose by 0.5 percentage points between May and June, reaching 76.6% of GDP.
This increase was attributed to higher nominal interest effects, greater net debt issuance, and negative nominal GDP variation.
The Brazilian economy grew by 3.4% in 2024, driven by the industry and services sectors. However, both the financial market and the government foresee a slowdown this year, estimating growth between 2% and 2.5%.
