Brazil has extended controversial tax breaks for the car industry, blaming the World Cup for reducing sales in the world’s fourth-largest auto market.
身为全球第四大汽车市场的巴西将延长颇受争议的汽车业减税政策，原因是世界杯致使汽车销量下滑。
Finance minister Guido Mantega said on Monday that he would maintain the reduced manufactured goods levy, known as IPI, for carmakers for another six months until December, bringing the total cost of the measure to the government this year to about R$1.6bn ($727m) in lost tax revenue. He also extended an IPI tax break for the furniture industry.
巴西财长吉多·曼特加周一表示，将持续实施汽车业工业产品税（IPI）的减税政策，期限延长 6个月至今年12月份，这项举措将使政府今年承受大约16亿雷亚尔（7.27亿美元）的税收损失。另外，家具业的减税政策也将延长。
The government had previously said it would let the tax break for cars expire in July as fears grow that Brazil will not be able to meet its fiscal target this year. Earlier on Monday, the central bank reported the second-widest primary budget deficit for the month of May in the country’s history.
此前，由于巴西今年无法达到财政目标的忧虑见长，政府承诺于7月停止汽车业的减税政策。周一，中央银行公布了巴西5月的基本预算赤字，收支差额触及历史第二高。
However, Mr Mantega said the car industry needed further support after sales in the first half of the year were hit by tighter credit conditions as well as the effects of the World Cup. The football-mad nation has largely ground to a halt since the tournament kicked off in the middle of June, hitting some retailers and putting many businesses on hold.
但曼特加解释道，在信贷环境紧缩及世界杯冲击上半年汽车销量的情况下，汽车业需要进一步的支持。世界杯在6月中旬开赛，影响了诸多零售业者，导致多个行业经营停滞，因此这个为足球疯狂的国家完全有立场消除影响。
“Although the World Cup is very good for the country and is a big success, bringing many tourists, it causes some problems for specific sales and industries,” Mr Mantega said.
曼特加称：“尽管世界杯对巴西是有利的，且获得了巨大的成功，吸引了大量游客，但也给部分产业销售造成了问题。”
Luiz Moan, head of Anfavea, the national automakers’ group, welcomed the move, saying it would help sales recover in the market, which has been struggling for months as Brazil’s economy slows.
巴西全国汽车制造商联合会主席莫恩支持这项举措，他认为汽车销量数月来受巴西经济增长缓慢拖累，减税政策将刺激市场上的销量回升。
Car sales fell for the first time in a decade last year, ending a boom in the industry that had not only propelled the economy but also benefited the ruling Workers’ party, which has strong links with the industry’s unions.
去年，巴西汽车销量出现十年内首次下滑，结束了汽车业的持续繁荣。而汽车业不仅是推动经济的重要行业，由于执政的劳工党与该行业的联合会关系紧密，汽车业也是劳工党的助力。
While data from June have not yet been released, new car registrations dropped about 7 per cent in May from the previous year, according to Anfavea.
据巴西全国汽车制造商联合会称，今年6月的数据还没有发布，然而5月巴西新车注册数量较去年同期下滑7％。
Mr Mantega dismissed concerns about the effects of the measure on the country’s primary budget balance, attributing May’s weak fiscal result to “strong comparisons”.
曼特加否定了该举措影响巴西基础预算平衡的疑虑，他将5月财政衰弱的原因归咎于“强烈的对比”。
Brazil’s primary budget surplus is currently around 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product on a 12-month basis, below the country’s 1.9 per cent target for this year, according to Alberto Ramos at Goldman Sachs. As a measure of the public sector’s excess revenue and thus capacity to repay debt, the primary surplus is closely watched by investors as a sign of the country’s creditworthiness.
高盛经济学家阿尔贝托·拉莫斯指出，目前巴西基础预算盈余约占年度国内生产总值（GDP）的1.5％，低于该国今年1.9％的目标。作为可评估公共部门超额盈余和偿债能力的方法之一，基础预算盈余是投资人密切关注的指标，并以此来判断国家信誉。
“In our assessment, it will be very difficult for the government to meet the 1.9 per cent of GDP fiscal target in 2014 unless it is able to count on significant extraordinary non-recurrent revenue during the second half of this year and/or exerts strict control over current spending,” Mr Ramos wrote on Monday before the latest tax breaks were announced.
拉莫斯于周一减税政策公布前表示，根据评估，巴西政府2014年将难以达到预算盈余占年度GDP 1.9％的财政目标，除非下半年出现非经常性的重大收益，或严格控制经常性支出。
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