Brazil’s government will extend a reduction in the PIS/Cofins welfare tax for computer and phone equipment to December 2018, the Finance Ministry said.  The measure will maintain PIS and Cofins tax charges on notebooks, PCs, tablets, smartphones, and digital routers at zero. The tax break had been scheduled to expire at the end of this year.  Ministry executive secretary Dyogo Oliveira said the measure would eliminate an informal market for the manufacture of computer equipment and help local industry. “With the approaching end of the benefit and contracts for delivery of the products through the year’s end, industry was having difficulty setting prices,” he said. Mr. Oliveira said the extension of the tax break was possible because tax collection on such products has increased to around  $1.24 billion annually from around 840 million in 2010.   He estimated, meanwhile, that total revenue forfeiture brought by the tax break measure would amount to around $2.2 billion this year and $3.5 billion in 2015.  Brazil’s government has recently sought to offer tax breaks and other measures to stimulate the country’s sluggish economy, which is seen growth only about 0.8% this year according to recent central bank market surveys.