Brasília – Expenses of Brazilians travelling abroad in January totalled US$ 2.293 billion, according to figures disclosed by the Brazilian Central Bank (BC) on Friday (22). This is the highest result recorded by the BC in the historic series, which started being recorded in 1969. In January 2012, expenses had totalled US$ 2.001 billion.
According to the head of the Economic Department at the BC, Tulio Maciel, the growth reflects Brazilian income and also low product prices abroad. "True income of Brazilians is also still on the rise. Another factor that has been influencing this is asset prices abroad,” he said.
In January, expenses of foreigners in Brazil totalled US$ 695 million, as against US$ 666 million recorded in the same month last year. With this, the deficit in the international travel account (expenses of Brazilians abroad versus expenses of foreigners in Brazil) was US$ 1.598 billion in January this year, against US$ 1.335 billion in the same period in 2012.
According to preliminary figures for February, up to the 20th, expenses of Brazilians abroad have totalled US$ 1.358 billion and revenues of foreigners in Brazil reached US$ 415 million. The deficit in the period has already reached US$ 943 million.
In 2013, the BC expects that spending of Brazilians abroad should exceed revenues from foreigners travelling in Brazil by US$ 16.3 billion. Last year, this total was US$ 15.588 billion negative.
*Translated by Mark Ament
