Brasília – Spending by Brazilian tourists on international travel has grown by 66.69% this year. It was the item that weighed down on the country’s services account the most, according to the Foreign Sector Report of the Central Bank. In the first two months, the spending reached US$ 1.907 billion, as against US$ 1.144 billion in the first two months of 2010.
Another factor that weighed down on the services account was spending on international transport, which reached US$ 865 million during the period, 23.22% more than in the first two months of last year. According to the report for February, issued today (25th), current account transactions posted the highest-ever deficit for the month, according to the joint chief of the Central Bank’s Economic Department, Túlio Maciel: US$ 3.391 billion.
The current account deficit has reached US$ 8.8 billion so far this year and US$ 49.2 billion in the last 12 months, equivalent to 2.31% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The main contributing factor was the services account, which grew by 37.5% in the first two months this year as against the same period last year. Spending has risen from US$ 3.296 billion to US$ 4.532 billion.
Spending on international travel and transport accounted for 61.16% of the services account in the first two months. The remainder consisted of spending on equipment rental (US$ 2.237 billion), computing and information (US$ 589 million), royalties and licenses (US$ 413 million), government spending (US$ 375 million) and insurance (US$ 210 million).
Apart from spending on insurance, which dropped by 5.5% in the two-month period, spending has increased, the highlight being equipment rental, which grew by 56.9%. The only category favourable to Brazilian accounts was "other services," with a net inflow of US$ 802 million, 75% more than in the same period of 2010.
The Central Bank report also shows that net income remittances abroad reached US$ 2.892 billion in February, an increase of 56.6% over the same month of last year. Remittances reached US$ 6.562 billion in the first two months, a 45% increase over the same period of last year. The highlight was income from direct investment, which reached US$ 2.204 in February, a 77.3% increase compared with February last year.
Net income from Brazilian direct investment abroad reached US$ 2.1 billion last month. Other Brazilian investment abroad generated a net income of US$ 3.6 billion, comprising the net granting of US$ 3.2 billion in short-term credit and the establishment of US$ 470 million in assets of Brazilian banks abroad.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
