Brazilian court blocks accounts of Rio de Janeiro state gov't

 A Brazilian court has blocked funds of the local state government in order to guarantee the maintenance of services for retirees, local media reported Saturday.

The measure, revealed by the G1 news site, froze 210,000 reais (66,000 U.S. dollars) to guarantee food supplies for two retirement homes in the west of Rio de Janeiro, the state capital.

This came in response to a request by the Attorney-General, who stated that the regional government and a foundation were obliged to supply food on a daily basis to the people in these shelters.

The blocking of the accounts aims to secure the food supply for the elderly people for at least a month.

In recent months, Brazilian courts have frequently frozen Rio de Janeiro state funds in order to guarantee the payments needed to be made by the regional government.

Brazil's deep economic crisis has seen thousands of public officials work without receiving their salary, or only being paid a part of it.

Rio de Janeiro, despite being the most popular state for tourists in Brazil, is undergoing a serious financial crisis, due to low oil prices, its main source of income.

source: Xinhua