Brazil: Economic activity expands at fastest pace in 10 months in December
February 19, 2018
In December, economic activity rose 1.4% from 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 result was notably above November’s revised 0.3% increase (previously reported: +0.5% month-on-month) and overshot market analysts’ expectations of a softer 1.1% rise. Moreover, the reading marked the fastest growth since February 2017.
On an annual basis, economic activity rose 2.1% in December, which was below November’s revised 2.6% expansion (previously reported: +2.8% year-on-year). For the full year 2017, economic activity grew 1.0%, rebounding after four years of contraction (2017: -4.0%). The result confirms that the economy is recovering after the deepest recession in its modern history.
Brazil GDP Forecast
The analysts surveyed for this month’s LatinFocus Consensus Forecast expect the economy to grow 2.5% in 2018, which is unchanged from last month’s estimate. For 2019, the panel of analysts sees GDP rising 2.7%.
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