BRASILIA, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal tax receipts in November totaled 157.3 billion reais ($27.35 billion), up 1.4% in real terms from the same month l last year and the highest figure for November since 2014, the revenue department said on Tuesday.

Double-digit inflation in Brazil has helped tax collection, but even figures that exclude it showed significant increases after the COVID-19 pandemic reduced tax revenue in 2020.

The government says economic growth is the main factor behind the figures, but gains have slowed amid growing signs of an economic slowdown. November’s monthly performance was the weakest of the year, just after January, when there was a real 1.5% drop in tax receipts.

Still, tax revenue in the first 11 months of the year totaled 1.7 trillion reais, up 18.1% from the same period last year, a record since the start of the tax streak. given in 1995.

This performance has helped improve the country’s primary deficit, and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes has already said he expects a deficit equivalent to 1% of gross domestic product in 2021, up from a 10% deficit. last year.

($1 = 5.7520 reais)

Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Andrea Ricci

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