This paper aims to explain the role of the public budget as an instrument of the government for formulating infrastructure public policies in Brazil. The changes promoted in the budget management for the execution of the Growth Acceleration Program - Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento (PAC) - are the empirical objects of analysis. It is adopted the theoretical perspective of the budget as a technical and political institution. The methodological approach used is the analytical narrative, in order to provide factual consistence to the episode's analysis. It is applied for incorporating the history of political institutions in the context of the events that created the program. The data used is documentary and bibliographic. The conclusion is that the magnitude of changes in the instrument had the intensity compatible with the governments' willingness of promoting the measures politically acceptable by the hegemonic doctrines on president's mandates.
public budget; infrastructure, public policy.
