ABSTRACT
Brazil, as well as most Latin American countries, have an inflated public sector, which follows from the expansive government policies pursued until late 70’s, largely financed by external indebtedness. Currently, the lack of transparency and the complexity of public sector accounts hinder the effectiveness of stabilization policies and the productivity of state enterprises. Federal government budget is often balanced, but it does not cover expenditures of the whole public sector. A large amount of subsidies to state enterprises and local treasuries are provided indirectly with federal funds through state banks and monetary authorities. A full-scale bailing out program to alleviate highly indebted enterprises will allow the Central Bank and other financial intermediaries to stop acting as a lender of last resort. In order to fully recover the effectiveness of government policies it is necessary to decentralize national expenditures, grant autonomy to local governments and state enterprises and to minimize their financial mutual dependence.
KEYWORDS:
Size of State; public spending; state-owned companies