The Golden Rule in Brazilian Financial Law

Abstract

Objective: To present general outlines about the conceptualization, applicability and effectiveness of the so-called "Golden Rule", thus nicknamed the determination contained in article 167, item III, of the Federal Constitution of 1988, which limits the public manager to carry out credit operations to face capital expenditures and, according to the majority understanding of the doctrine, prohibits the referred measure for the cost of current expenses. Bibliographic review: The controversy over this regulation is brought to light when it is verified that, in recent years, the Brazilian government has had difficulties in remaining obedient to this precept, in view of the sharp growth of public expenditures, caused mainly by the context pandemic that the country has been going through since the beginning of 2020 - this being a fact that has severely impacted public accounts. Final considerations: After selecting the research references, as well as understanding the theoretical, legal and literary resources on the matter in question, it was found that the aforementioned regulation was crucial for the Brazilian State to preserve the regularity of its ordinary expenses without compromising the activities calls for the maintenance of the machine and public services.