Brazil: Economic activity expands again in April
June 17, 2013
In April, economic activity rose 0.8% over the previous month in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the Central Bank's monthly indicator for economic activity (IBC-Br, Indice de Atividade Economica do Banco Central). The figure was below the 1.1% increase observed in March but slightly above market expectations of a 0.7% expansion.
On an annual basis, economic activity expanded a solid 7.3% in April, which was well above the 1.2% increase tallied in March. As a result, the trend improved, with annual average growth rising from 0.9% in March to 1.6% in April. The IBC-Br is highly correlated to the GDP series and thus represents a good proxy for economic growth.
The Central Bank expects GDP to grow 3.1% in 2013, according to its Inflation Report from March. LatinFocus Consensus Forecast panellists expect the economy to expand 2.8% in 2013, which is down 0.3 percentage points from last month's estimate. For 2014, the panel sees GDP growth accelerating to 3.4%.
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