RIO DE JANEIRO, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government will further trim its 2013 budget by 10 billion reais (about 4.5 billion U.S. dollars), Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Monday.
It is the third budget cut this year since May, in addition to a curtailment of 28 billion reais (some 12.5 billion dollars) announced two months ago, and a 15-billion-real (or 6.7 billion dollars) cut earlier in July.
Despite these cuts, the total amount of the budget reduction is still lower than that last year, when 55 billion reais (24.6 billion dollars) were trimmed from the federal budget.
Out of the announced cut of 10 billion reais, 5.6 billion (2.5 billion dollars) will be cut from mandatory expenses, with the rest trimmed from air tickets, machinery, equipment and outsource services.
Mantega assured that prior social programs and the investment in education and public healthcare will be maintained.
The budget tapering came after a wave of mass protests over the past month sparked by a transit fare hike that angered Brazilians who witnessed massive public spending on sporting events.
The cut is aimed at helping the government achieve the primary surplus target for 2013, which was set at 110.9 billion reais (49.7 billion dollars), or 2.5 percent of the country's GDP.
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