Fiscal pedaling (a calque from Brazilian Portuguese: pedalada fiscal, or simply pedaladas) is a governmental creative accounting technique involving the use of state-owned banks to front funds required for paying general government obligations without officially declaring a loan, thus hiding these transfers from public scrutiny[1][2] and delaying repayment from the Treasury to these banks.
Her opponents argued that this amounted to undeclared loans by these banks to the Treasury, which is prohibited by the Brazilian Constitution[6] and a violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Law [pt ].
[3] The Rousseff Administration allegedly used this pedaling to improve fiscal outcomes and make the budget surplus for the years 2012 to 2014 appear larger.
[7] The Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), unanimously declared this maneuver a violation of fiscal responsibility.
President Rousseff's government was accused of using these accounting techniques during the bitterly fought campaign of 2014, with the funding thus obtained allegedly used to support programs for the poor, credits to farmers, and subsidies for low-income housing.