Brazil’s agricultural exports in the first half of this year increased by 4.5% compared to the same period in 2022.
Financial markets had raised the country’s GDP growth forecast to 2.24% from 2.19% in 2023 and 1.3% in 2024 from 1.28%, Brazil’s central bank said.
Earlier this year, Brazil’s GDP growth forecast for the year was just under 0.8%, according to a weekly survey by the bank of analysts at the country’s largest financial institutions.
Analysts left their inflation forecasts unchanged at 4.95% this year and 3.92% next year. Brazil’s inflation target is 3.25% in 2023 and 3% in 2024.
Analysts also kept their key rate forecasts unchanged at 12% in 2023 and 9.5% in 2024. The current interest rate is 13.75% per year.
As for the foreign exchange market, analysts expect the Brazilian real, currently trading at 4.83 reais to the dollar, to trade at 5 reais to the dollar by the end of 2023 and 5.05 reais to the dollar by the end of 2024.
The trade balance, exports versus imports, is expected to reach a surplus of $65 billion this year and $60 billion next year.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Brazilian economy is expected to reach US$80 billion in both 2023 and 2024.
