RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Central Bank (BC) released on Monday, July 15th, the Index of Economic Activity (IBC-Br), regarded as a preview of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In May, after four consecutive declines, the indicator registered a timid 0.54 percent increase compared to April.
According to the monetary authority, the first positive result of the year was calculated using seasonal adjustments.
Before May the IBC-Br had only registered a 0.15 percent rise in December of last year. In January, there was a drop of -0.05 percent. In March, the decline was -0.28 percent, and in April, it was -0.32 percent.
Compared to May 2018, the growth was 3.06 percent, while in the accumulated figure for 2019, there was an increase of 0.94 percent.
In 12 months until May, the registered growth was 1.31 percent. There is no seasonal adjustment in these comparisons.
Shrinking
According to the Central Bank, the IBC-Br forecasts the GDP result as calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Despite the slight increase, the forecast for GDP growth is increasingly lower.
Last week, the government revised its own estimates downwards. The Ministry of Economy reduced its growth forecast for the year from 1.6 percent to 0.81 percent.
The projection for 2020 dropped from 2.5 percent to 2.2 percent.