Brazil’s Central Bank survey forecasts growth above 2% for the first time
Brazil’s economy is predicted to grow by 2.14% this year, marking the first time it’s projected to rise over 2% for 2023, as per a consensus forecast from around 100 institutions revealed by the country’s Central Bank.
This projection, up by three-tenths from last week’s estimate, reflects a significant uptick in economic optimism for Latin America’s largest economy.
Until December, forecasts for this year’s growth stood at a mere 0.6%, with the projection only starting to exceed 1% from May.
The updated projection comes just three days after the central bank reported a 0.56% month-on-month growth for April, surpassing all expectations, leading to an aggregate quarterly expansion of 3.47% from February to April.
Therefore, in the first four months, the economy marked a 3.88% growth compared to the corresponding period in 2022 and a year-on-year expansion of 3.43% ending in April of this year.
While Brazil witnessed a 5% growth in 2021, its best performance in over a decade, the growth rate slowed to 2.9% in 2022.
Although a further slowdown was anticipated for this year, the latest figures questioned that expectation.
In a recent radio interview, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s President asserted that the economy would outperform and exceed 2.5% growth this year.
However, today’s Central Bank’s survey predicts a 2.14% expansion this year, followed by a slowdown to 1.2% in 2024 and a rebound to 1.7% in 2025.
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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief