Brasília – Financial institutions surveyed by the Brazilian Central Bank (BC) revised up their forecast for the growth of the Brazilian economy for 2017 from 1.1% to 1.2%. For 2016, they kept their estimate for the decline of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 3.20%. The estimates are part of the weekly survey carried out by BC on the main economy indicators and released every Monday as the Focus Bulletin.
The forecast by the financial institutions for the inflation, as measured by the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), was kept at 7.31% this year, and declined from 5.14% to 5.12% in 2017. The estimates exceeded the inflation’s target of 4.5%. For 2016, the forecasts also surpass the upper limit of the government’s established target at 6.5%. The upper limit for 2017 is 6%.
The financial institutions’ estimate for the benchmark interest rate, the Selic, remains at 13.75% per year at the end of 2016, and at 11% at the end of 2017. The forecast on the dollar price remains at BRL 3.30 at the end of 2016 and declined from BRL 3.50 to BRL 3.45 at the end of 2017.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
