Brazil: Economic activity rebounds in January

In January, economic activity rose 1.3% 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 contrasted the 0.5% decline observed in December and exceeded market expectations of a 0.8% rise.

On an annual basis, economic activity expanded 3.8% in January, which contrasted the 0.4% decrease tallied in December. As a result, the trend now points upwards, with annual average growth edging up from 0.6% in December to 0.8% in January. The IBC-Br is highly correlated to the GDP series and thus represents a good proxy for economic growth.