Economic news

Brazil’s economic activity at start of third quarter beats expectations

2023.09.19 10:13


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Consumers shop at a weekly street market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes/File Photo

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian economy kicked off the third quarter with a stronger-than-expected pace, bolstering recent upward revisions in the country’s GDP growth forecast for 2023.

The IBC-Br economic activity index, a key predictor of gross domestic product, registered seasonally adjusted growth of 0.44% in July from June, surpassing the median forecast of a 0.3% expansion in a Reuters poll of economists.

According to the central bank, the IBC-Br was up 0.66% on a non-seasonally adjusted basis from July 2022 and marked a rise of 3.12% in the 12 months.

The data has revealed a significantly more resilient economy since the beginning of the year, and this trend has been sustained in recent months, said Rafael Perez, an economist at Suno Research.

However, Perez said he expected greater stability in economic activity by the end of this year, citing the cumulative effects of the central bank’s restrictive monetary policy.

The central bank initiated an easing cycle last month, lowering its key interest rate to 13.25% after keeping it unchanged for nearly a year to combat high inflation in South America’s largest economy. Policymakers are expected to once again reduce rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday.

Brazil’s Finance Ministry revised on Monday its 2023 GDP projection from 2.5% to 3.2% due to better-than-expected second-quarter activity, a more promising crop outlook, positive results in select economic indicators during the third quarter, and the anticipation of an economic rebound in China, a key trading partner, during the fourth quarter.

Private economists surveyed weekly by the central bank have also consistently lifted their projections, now forecasting 2.89% economic growth, compared to less than 1% at the start of 2023.

The Brazilian economy has been benefiting from the strength of the agribusiness and extractive industries this year, further supported by household demand following measures by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government to boost families’ disposable income.

Despite the economic strength, government revenues have not grown as robustly, underscoring the challenges facing the government in balancing public finances by 2024, as promised in new fiscal rules. This task will require a significant increase in revenue collection.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 96,692.91 1.22%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,334.73 2.41%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.07%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 250.08 2.20%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 655.72 0.55%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.41 4.43%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.423836 0.92%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999711 0.06%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.00 5.45%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,334.23 2.52%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.206303 2.56%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 40.62 2.10%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.550707 12.20%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.09 3.04%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000025 2.46%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,948.26 2.44%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 96,449.84 1.24%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.69 1.39%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.43 0.22%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 506.85 1.00%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,334.65 2.46%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.35 2.52%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 3.10%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.58 6.95%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.47 1.37%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 96.33 2.61%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.13 3.95%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.63 1.10%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,509.92 2.35%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.144271 5.58%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.22 0.01%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.12%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.187491 6.23%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.552932 3.21%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.27 4.76%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.86 1.76%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.49 5.52%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.09%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.151191 1.56%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 507.46 1.19%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000047 0.42%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.04308 3.72%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.24 2.08%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999741 0.02%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.832779 3.96%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.82 7.38%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.56 0.58%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.46 2.86%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.63 2.59%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 53.51 3.96%