Central Bank : Brazil’s Economic Activity Grows 0.91 Percent in Third Quarter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Economic activity recorded growth in the third quarter this year, according to the Central Bank’s Economic Activity Index (IBC-Br), released yesterday, November 14th, by the Central Bank (BC).

In the third quarter this year, the index increased 0.91 percent compared to the previous period. The result considers seasonally adjusted data for the period.

In the comparison between the third quarter this year and the same period in 2018, growth was 0.99 percent.

In September, compared to August, there was an increase of 0.44 percent. Compared to September 2018, the increase was 2.11 percent. In the 12 months that ended in September 2019, there was an upturn of 0.99 percent.

The IBC-Br is a means of evaluating the monthly progress of Brazilian business activity and helps the Central Bank make its decisions on the basic interest rate, the SELIC.

The index incorporates information on the level of activity of the three economic sectors: industry, trade and services, and agriculture and ranching, in addition to the volume of taxes.

The index was designed by the Central Bank to show the trend in economic activity. However, the official economic indicator is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and released quarterly.

Source: Agência Brasil