Brasília – Brazilian financial market players revised up their inflation forecast for the second time in a row. Consumer inflation rate Índice Nacional de Preços ao Consumidor Amplo (IPCA) is seen ending the year at 3% per annum, up from a prior forecast of 2.98%. The estimates are released on the Brazilian Central Bank website on a weekly basis in the Focus Bulletin, which tracks key economic indicators.
The IPCA forecast for 2018 remained the same as last week at 4.02%. Both the 2017 and 2018 projections are lower than 4.5%, the midpoint of the Central Bank’s inflation target range.
Respondents of the bank’s poll see the benchmark interest rate (known as Selic) ending both 2017 and 20189 at 7%. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast moved up from 0.70% to 0.72% for this year, and from 2.43% to 2.50% in the next.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
