Public finance: net borrowing of government dropped 12.2% in 2024
November 26, 2025 10h00 AM | Last Updated: November 26, 2025 03h12 PM
In 2024, net borrowing of the general government was R$741.3 billion, showing a drop of 12.2% in relation to 2023. This result reflected the nominal growth of 12.7% in total revenue compared to the 8.5% increase in expenditure computed across the three levels of government. The data comes from Public Finance Statistics and Government Intermediate Account, prepared by the IBGE in partnership with the National Treasury Secretariat (STN) and the Central Bank of Brazil.
In the analysis of the major revenue aggregates, tax collection grew by 16.3% and social contributions, by 8.2% in 2024.
| Results of Operations - General Government | Current values (1 000 000 R$) (on December 31) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Govt | State Govts | Municipal Govts | Consolidation Column | General Govt | ||
| 1 | Revenue | 3,115,782 | 1,526,260 | 1,288,423 | -1,294,245 | 4,636,221 |
| 11 | Taxes | 1,815,210 | 943,658 | 254,546 | 0 | 3,013,414 |
| 12 | Social contributions | 698,492 | 113,855 | 65,945 | 0 | 878,292 |
| 13 | Transfers / Donations | 531 | 349,166 | 866,015 | -1,215,623 | 89 |
| 14 | Other revenues | 601,548 | 119,581 | 101,917 | -78,621 | 744,425 |
| 1411 | Interests | 289,319 | 20,151 | 38,951 | -78,621 | 269,800 |
| 14x | Other | 312,229 | 99,430 | 62,966 | 0 | 474,625 |
| 2M | Expense (2+31) | 3,786,079 | 1,581,727 | 1,303,960 | -1,294,245 | 5,377,521 |
| 2 | Expenditure | 3,804,267 | 1,559,390 | 1,229,670 | -1,294,245 | 5,299,083 |
| 21 | Employeee compensation | 240,776 | 506,924 | 533,883 | 0 | 1,281,583 |
| 22 | Use of goods and services | 82,274 | 215,190 | 395,378 | 0 | 692,841 |
| 23 | Fixed capital consumption | 47,595 | 63,051 | 64,237 | 0 | 174,882 |
| 24 | Inerests | 937,681 | 102,522 | 10,409 | -78,621 | 971,991 |
| 25 | Subsidies | 17,271 | 3,693 | 12,602 | 0 | 33,566 |
| 26 | Transfers / Donations | 923,696 | 289,362 | 6,171 | -1,215,623 | 3,606 |
| 27 | Social security and assistance benefits | 1,478,224 | 284,911 | 96,843 | 0 | 1,859,978 |
| 28 | Other expenditures | 76,751 | 93,737 | 110,147 | 0 | 280,635 |
| 31 | Net investment | -18,188 | 22,337 | 74,289 | 0 | 78,438 |
| 311 | Fixed assets | -12,489 | 21,960 | 72,752 | 0 | 82,223 |
| 312 | Stocks | 858 | 377 | 1,548 | 0 | 2,783 |
| 313 | Valuables | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 314 | Non-produced assets | -6,576 | 0 | -11 | 0 | -6,587 |
| Net lending (+)/borrowing (-) (1-2M) | -670,296 | -55,467 | -15,537 | 0 | -741,300 | |
| Primary net lending (+)/borrowing (-) ((1-1411)-(2M-24)) | -21,934 | 26,904 | -44,079 | 0 | -39,109 | |
All tax categories showed an increase in revenue, with emphasis on taxes on trade and foreign transactions, whose increase of 32.4% was due to a combination of an increase in the average Import Tax rate, exchange rate and dollar value of imports.
Taxes on goods and services increased by 19.0%, driven by the increase in COFINS collection on fuels. Taxes on income, profits and capital gains increased 13.3%, impacted by Law 14,754/2023, which established the taxation of investment funds and the updating of assets and rights abroad.
Property taxes had an increase in revenue of 8.8% in 2024. The highlights being the increase in the ITCD (Inheritance Tax) and the ITBI (Transfer Duty), with positive changes of 19.1% and 17.7%, respectively. Payroll and workforce taxes showed a 6.3% increase in revenue.
In relation to other revenue components, social contributions showed a positive change of 8.2%, while other revenues grew 4.4%, with a positive highlight for dividend income, with an increase of 38.7%. On the other hand, other capital transfers showed a negative change of 98.9% due to the atypical collection of R$26 billion in resources abandoned from PIS/Pasep and appropriated by the National Treasury in 2023 (Constitutional Amendment 126, of 2022).
From an expenditure perspective, it is observed that all aggregate items grew in 2024. Social security and assistance benefits, the most important item, increased by 6.0%, with emphasis on age and disability assistance benefits, with 18.2%. Salaries and compensation and use of goods and services increased by 9.5% and 13.7%, respectively. It is worth noting that the increase in expenditure could have been even more significant had it not been for the payment of approximately R$90 billion in government debts in 2023.
Government contributes with 13.4% of GDP
In 2024, the value added of the General Government was R$1,574.4 billion and its share in the GDP was 13.4%, which represented a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared to 2023.
Municipalities increase participation in Value Added
While the federal sphere lost 1.6 percentage points in participation, going from 27.2% in 2023 to 25.6% in 2024, the municipal sphere increased its participation in the same proportion, going from 36.6% in 2023 to 38.2% in 2024. The state level maintained its participation at 36.2%.
Pé-de-Meia Program impacts spending on social assistance benefits
The most important item in the composition of public expenditure in the Government Intermediate Account, social benefits increased by 6.1%. Cash social security benefits and other social security benefits grew 4.9% and 5.3%. Cash social assistance benefits grew by 12.1%, impacted by spending on the Fund for Incentive to Permanence in Secondary Education (FIPEM), the fund responsible for financing the federal program Pé-de-Meia.
Gross fixed capital formation, a variable that measures the future productive capacity of the General Government, reached R$257.1 billion in 2024, which represented an increase of 19.1% in relation to 2023 expenditures. The highlight was the municipal sphere, with a 26.8% increase, while the Union increased its expenditure on capital goods by 17.7%. The state sphere reversed the previous year's decline and showed a 9.1% increase in 2024.
