Brasília – Foreign direct investment, i.e. investment in the country’s production sector, reached US$ 2.643 billion in Brazil in July, and US$ 14.701 billion in the first seven months of the year, according to data supplied by the Brazilian Central Bank (BC) on this Monday (23rd). The result recorded last month surpassed the BC’s projection for the period, which was US$ 2 billion. In July 2009, foreign direct investment reached US$ 1.287 billion, and in the first seven months of last year it reached US$ 13.953 billion.
According to the BC, Brazil also recorded a US$ 4.499 billion deficit in current account transactions – operations for purchase and sale of goods and services to and from other countries – in July. The result is higher than what the BC’s had projected for the period, which was US$ 3.7 billion, and it is also exceeds the figure recorded in July last year, which was US$ 1.623 billion. In the first seven months of the year, the current account deficit was US$ 28.261 billion, as against US$ 8.8 billion from January to July last year.
The estimate of financial market analysts regarding growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), i.e. the sum of all goods and services produced in the country, was also disclosed on this Monday. The forecast for this year has gone from 7.09% to 7.10%. For 2011, the expected growth rate has been maintained at 4.5%, for 37 weeks in a row, according to the Central Bank.
The expected rate of growth of industrial production this year has gone from 11.57% to 11.49%.The expected rate for next year has been maintained at 5%. The projection of net public sector debt-to-GDP ratio has remained at 40.77% in 2010 and 39.50% in 2011. The dollar-to-real (Brazilian currency) ratio has remained unchanged as well: US$ 1 is expected to be equivalent to 1.80 real by the end of the current year, and 1.85 real by the end of 2011.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
