Overview

• Relator Benjamin Zymler granted suspensive effect to the government's appeal, pausing the TCU order that contingencies be calibrated to the center of the primary balance target.
• Zymler said he will not propose holding public officials accountable for 2025 budget execution even if the plenary later rejects the appeal.
• The earlier TCU acórdão required using the center of a zero-deficit target with a ±0.25% of GDP band, while the government has used the lower bound of the interval as its operational benchmark.
• Planning Ministry estimates indicated a potential R$30.189 billion freeze if the center were enforced now, including R$6.801 billion in parliamentary amendments and sizable hits to Education, Cities and Transport.
• Finance Ministry executive secretary Dario Durigan said the pause provides legal certainty for the next bimonthly fiscal report due by November 22 and signaled a possible 2026 LDO clarification of the parameter, as TCU president Vital do Rêgo pressed for the center target and questioned the rule's durability after 2026.