Brazil: Economic activity steady in December

In December, economic activity increased 0.2% in seasonally-adjusted month-on-month terms, according to the Central Bank’s monthly indicator for economic activity (IBC-Br, Indice de Atividade Economica do Banco Central). The result was unchanged from November’s reading.

On an annual basis, economic activity expanded 0.2% in December, notably down from November’s 1.8% and the worst reading in seven months. Accordingly, annual average growth in economic activity came in at 1.1% for 2018, up only modestly from 2017’s 0.9%.

Brazil GDP Forecast

The analysts surveyed for this month’s LatinFocus Consensus Forecast expect the economy to grow 2.4% in 2019, which is unchanged from last month’s estimate. For 2020, the panel of analysts sees GDP rising 2.5%.