Brasília – Dollar inflow into Brazil remained higher than the outflow in the first week of June. The surplus stood at US$ 1.568 billion, according to figures released this Tuesday (12th) by the Brazilian Central Bank. In May, a US$ 10.755 billion surplus was recorded, the highest monthly result since July 2011 (US$ 15.825 billion).
Despite the performance, the United States currency is on the rise. Yesterday, for the second consecutive day, the Central Bank held two traditional-type foreign exchange swap auctions, i.e. selling dollars on the futures market to lower its price. By the end of the day, the dollar-to-real ratio dropped for the first time since last Thursday (6th). Today, the bank did not announce any operation of this sort.
In the first week of June, the flow of trade (export and import operations) showed a US$ 299 million surplus. Investment in bonds, profit and dividend remittances to foreign countries and foreign direct investment, among other financial operations, showed a US$ 1.270 billion surplus, as against a deficit US$ 3.343 billion in May.
From January through the first week of June this year, the foreign exchange flow showed a US$ 13.739 billion surplus, the trade flow showed a US$ 19.023 billion surplus, and financial operations ran a US$ 5.284 billion deficit.
On June 4th, the Finance Ministry announced the decision of lifting the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF, in the Portuguese acronym) for foreigners investing in fixed income in Brazil. Since October 2010, the rate was 6%. The decree is meant to encourage the inflow of foreign funds, and thus curb the dollar hike.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
