Brasília – The Brazilian Ministry of Finance revised up its economic growth forecasts for this year and next. Expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth this year widened from 0.5% to 1.1%, with the forecast for next year moving from 2% to 3%. The numbers were announced by Finance minister Henrique Meirelles a little earlier today. Meirelles said both corporate and household debt has decreased, and real (inflation-discounted) interest rates are lower right now, and this should be conducive to greater economic growth this year.
The 2018 forecast is a “fairly conservative, rather solid projection,” the minister said, adding that both confidence and the expectation of subdued inflation have improved, which leads to stronger consumption and investment levels. Financial market players expect GDP to show 0.91% growth this year. In the first nine months of 2017, GDP was up 0.6% from the year-ago period.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
