Brazil's Rousseff to decide on budget

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a ceremony to announce measures to modernize Brazilian soccer at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia in this March 19, 2015 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will decide on a new federal budget, Agriculture Minister Katia Abreu said Monday.

"Ministries will list their greatest priorities and the president will make an evaluation. It will not be a blind cut," Abreu said after a Cabinet meeting in Brasilia.

The federal budget is to be lowered to 1.2 percent of GDP for 2015 from 1.9 percent for 2014.

Brazil is going through an economic crisis. The country's economic growth rate for 2014 is expected to be announced by the end of March, and expectations are for either a very low figure or even zero or negative growth.

In the first half of 2014, Brazil registered a contraction, before a mere 0.1-percent growth rate in the third quarter.