Brasília – Brazil started the month of September with a greater outflow than inflow of dollars. According to figures disclosed today (9th) by the Central Bank of Brazil (BC), the outflow was US$ 1.1 billion in the first four working days of September.
This value is the result of a negative balance of US$ 254 million in the trade flow and of a deficit of US$ 854 million in the financial flow. The trade flow measures not just the trade balance (exports minus imports), but also foreign trade financing through Advances on Exchange Contracts (ACC) and advance payments.
The financial flow measures the inflow and outflow of funds due to the purchase and sale of shares, papers, foreign investment and profit and dividend transfers abroad.
The exchange flow in the first seven days of September is in the opposite direction from that registered in the same period last year. According to the BC, the positive balance had been US$ 4.43 billion in the first four working days of September 2008, few days before North American bank Lehman Brothers went broke and worsened the global financial crisis.
In the accumulated result for 2009, the exchange flow was positive, but the balance is 70% lower than that registered in the same period last year, due to the outflow of funds from the country early this year. From January to the first week of September, the balance is US$ 5.78 billion positive. In the same period in 2008, the result had been US$ 18.8 billion.
*Translated by Mark Ament
