Brasília – Overseas spending by Brazilians amounted to US$ 2.354 billion in August, the highest result ever since records started being kept by the Brazilian Central Bank (BC) in 1995. Year-to-date through August, overseas spending reached US$ 17.254 billion, as against US$ 16.61 billion in the same period of 2013. In August of last year, expenditure amounted to US$ 2.207 billion. The figures have been released this Wednesday (24th) by the monetary authority.
According to the head of the BC’s Economic Department, Túlio Maciel, the income of Brazilians is a determining factor for the hike in overseas spending. “The bulk of salaries keeps growing in actual terms. This is an important element in assessing overseas spending,” he said. About the effect of recent hike in dollar price on this calculation, Maciel says it will not be felt any time soon because international tour packages are purchased in advance.
Spending by foreigners during trips to Brazil stood at US$ 499 million in August, as against US$ 517 million in August last year. Year-to-date through August, foreigners spent US$ 4.935 billion in Brazil, as against US$ 4.537 billion in the first eight months of 2013.
These results led to a travel account deficit of US$ 1.855 billion last month, as against a US$ 1.69 billion deficit in August 2013. From January through August, deficit ran at US$ 12.319 billion, as against US$ 12.073 billion for the year-ago period.
The BC has revised its international travel account deficit projection for the entire year from US$ 18 billion in August to US$ 18.5 billion.
The organization has also announced that foreign direct investment (FDI) in August reached US$ 6.84 billion, an all-time high for the month. From January through August, FDI is running at US$ 42.001 billion.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
