Brazil's monthly tax revenues fall to six-year low

Brazil's monthly tax revenues totaled 107.416 billion reais (33.36 billion U.S. dollars) in July, a 5.8 percent decline from a year earlier and a record low since 2010, the Federal Tax Administration said Friday.

From January to July this year, the tax revenues totaled 724.673 billion reais (225.05 billion dollars), 7.1 percent less than in the same period last year and a six-year low of its kind.

The tax authorities listed reduced industrial production and sales of goods among major factors behind the decline in federal income this year.

The situation may damage the government effort to reach its fiscal target to contain a deficit at 170.5 billion reais (52.95 billion dollars) in 2016, leaving it with the options of further spending cuts through the rest of the year and possible tax hikes. Endi