Brazil will count 39.4% of court-ordered debt payments due in 2027 inside its budgetary objective, exceeding the minimum allowed by a constitutional modification enacted last year.

The amendment permitted the government to allocate at least 10% of fines from federal verdicts towards fiscal priorities.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration aims to bring the effective primary balance closer to the headline goal by counting more payments, which were previously outside fiscal rules. “We maintained the same nominal amount as in 2026,” said Brazilian Planning Minister Bruno Moretti at a press conference.

Around 60.6% of court-ordered payments, or 57.8 billion reais ($11.58 billion), are expected to be paid beyond the fiscal target, resulting in a 0.1% GDP surplus.

Government aims a 0.25% primary surplus of GDP this year, but anticipates a 0.4% effective deficit due to court-ordered payments outside fiscal norms.The 2027 bill forecasts 2.56% GDP growth and 3.04% inflation.

The administration renewed its medium-term budgetary estimates, estimating a 1.0% primary surplus in 2028 and 1.25% in 2029, and establishing a 1.5% surplus target for 2030 for the first time.