BRASILIA: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will send Congress a 2016 budget with a primary deficit after she abandoned plans to reinstate an unpopular tax to raise revenues next year, Brazilian media reported on Sunday.

Rousseff’s economic team decided it was best to present realistic budget numbers to avoid losing further credibility in the market, the O Globo, Folha de SPaulo and Estado de SPaulo newspapers reported, citing presidential aides.

Without additional revenues, government officials warned last week it would be impossible to meet a fiscal savings target of 0.7 per cent of GDP next year as originally planned in the budget.