Agência Brasil
Brasília – The deficit in the balance of payments last month was US$ 6.1 billion. Current accounts showed a US$ 349 million surplus, but there was a US$ 6.5 billion deficit in the financial account, due to a US$ 6.3 billion repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
These figures were announced today in a note by the Economic Department of the Central Bank on the foreign sector, with emphasis on the US$ 2.8 billion trade balance surplus in the final month of 2003, when net foreign direct investments totalled US$ 1.4 billion.
The document also informs that net spending on services amounted to US$ 529 million, 9.1% less than in December, 2002. US$ 113 million were spent on transportation, US$ 290 million on rents, and the rest on other services. In December, 2003, US$ 2.2 billion were transferred abroad in net income remittances, 39.9% more than in December, 2002.
