ECONOMIC REGIMES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BRAZILIAN PUBLIC DEBT

Abstract

The Brazilian public debt is a topic that has currently gained prominence in the country. This occurs in the midst of a political and economic crisis that plagues the country, which culminated in the impeachment of the president of the republic in 2016, the second that occurred after the redemocratization of the country in 1988. The interest in relation to the public debt stems mainly from its representativeness within the structure of federal expenditures, and also due to the proposition of reforms defended under the argument of reducing the deficit of the federal public budget, which occurs for the second consecutive year. The reforms on the agenda, especially the pension and labor reforms, generate a broad debate about the possibility of losses for a significant portion of the population. Within this context, this article has analyzed the Brazilian public debt. This is an exploratory study, which sought to analyze the economic regimes adopted in the country, and their relationship with the public debt. Economic regimes can influence the trajectory of debt, as they indicate the country's propensity to encourage savings, its position in relation to exchange rate policy or public investment, the latter being one of the main justifications for public indebtedness. The results indicate a reduction in the external public debt, which reduces the country's exposure to exchange rate variations and can be considered a positive aspect, but a trend of increasing indebtedness in relation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which may indicate a lower capacity to contract new operations and a higher cost of them.