Brazil – Brazilian travelling abroad spent US$ 8.291 billion from January to May of this year, which represents a decline of 21% over the same period of last year. The data was released this Monday (22th) by the Brazilian Central Bank (BC). In May, expenses stood at US$ 1.414 billion, a drop of 42% over the same month of 2014.
According to the head of BC’s Economic Department, Tulio Maciel, the dollar hike is the main factor in the decline of spending in international travelling. “It’s an item [of the external accounts] that is very sensitive to the foreign exchange rate. One of the first ones to reflect the dollar appreciation”, he said. Another factor is the decline of the economic activity.
This month’s preliminary data also show a decline of abroad spending. Until June 18th, it stood at US$ 1.027 billion. The BC expects a decline of 17% in spending in June over the same month of 2014. The revenues spent by foreigners visiting Brazil also should drop this month due to the impact of the World Cup last year. That is, in 2014, with the World Cup, there were more revenues than this month.
From January to May, revenues from foreigners in Brazil stood at US$ 2.498 billion over US$ 2.791 billion in the same period of last year. In May, there revenues were of US$ 417 million.
The BC expects the deficit in the international travelling account, which is calculated using the Brazilian spending and foreigner’s revenues in the country, to stay at US$ 14.5 billion this year. The previous forecast was of US$ 16 billion.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
