Brazil’s Budget Deficit Widens to Record as Downgrade Looms

Brazil’s budget deficit unexpectedly widened to a record in September, prompting the government to say it won’t meet its fiscal target as a possible credit downgrade looms. Swap rates rose.

The budget deficit widened to 69.4 billion reais ($28.4 billion), more than twice the 31.1 billion reais median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of six analysts. The gap is the biggest since the series began in December 2001, and for the first time ever, Brazil posted a primary deficit for the first nine months of the year, totaling 15.3 billion reais.