*Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has announced that the public sector deficit stood at R$21.3bn (US$3.79bn) in July, down from R$35.8bn in the same month in 2023. In the 12 months to July, the public sector deficit totalled R$257.7bn, equating to 2.29% of GDP. The public sector deficit as a percentage of GDP over this period was down by 0.15 percentage points compared with the 12 months to June.