RIO DE JANEIRO, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Planning and Budget Ministry announced on Monday that the federal government's operating expenses fell 7.2 percent in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year due to cuts in various sectors.
The figures already take into account the variation in the inflation rate. The government's operating expenses amounted to 9.96 billion reais (3.19 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months of the year, the ministry said in a statement.
From July 2016 to June 2017, operating expenses stood at 34.5 billion reais (11 billion U.S. dollars), down 4.6 percent from the previous 12 months.
According to the ministry, the main reasons for the decrease were due to cuts in consumption such as electricity and water, which fell by 17.3 percent. Other sectors, such as rental costs and communication, also saw decreases.
The government celebrated the result, which came as good news after President Michel Temer cut public budgets in this fiscal year. This includes passing a constitutional amendment freezing federal budgets for 20 years, only allowing increases to match the inflation rate.
However, some of the cuts have caused controversy and are considered excessive.
For example, in late June, the Federal Police announced that it no longer had money to produce new passports and suspended the emission of travel documents. This freeze lasted a month until the federal government stepped in with extra funds.
