MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil's GDP forecast to grow by 2.76% in 2022

Brazil currently combines economic growth with accounts in the red

Brazilian economists have released a study whereby the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP - the sum of all goods and services produced nationwide) is projected to grow 2.76% by the end of 2022, it was reported Monday.

 Regarding 2023, estimates were adjusted from 0.59 to 0.63 %, it was also announced.

According to the Focus survey, growth had been heralded to be around 0.28 % for the whole of 2022.

Inflation projections for this year were lowered from 5.62 % to 5.6 % and from 4.97 % to 4.94 % in 2023, it was reported in Brasilia, where the target has been set at 3.5 % for 2022 and 3.25 % for next year, in both cases -+ 1.5 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the basic Selic interest rate is expected to remain unchanged from 13.75 % until the end of the year and gradually decrease throughout 2023 to reach 11.25 %.

The parity rate between the Brazilian real and the US dollar is not expected to change significantly. It currently stands at R$ 5.24 / 1 US$ and is foreseen at R$ 5.20 / 1 US$ by the end of 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Brazil's foreign trade surplus would reach US$ 56.15 billion at the end of 2022 and US$ 56 billion in 2023.

Foreign direct investments in Brazil are to amount to US$ 68 billion this year and US$ 70 billion in 2023.

Meanwhile, Brazil recorded a US$ 29.583-billion-dollar deficit in the first nine months of the year, almost three times as much as in the same period of 2021 (US$ 11.356 billion), according to Brazil's Central Bank (BCB).

The calculations are made from the trade balance (trade of products between Brazil and the rest of the world), services purchased by Brazilians abroad, and remittances of interests, profits, and dividends from Brazil to foreign countries.

The Central Bank expects a US$ 47 billion deficit by the end of the year in what would be the worst result since 2019 when it hit US$ 65 billion in the red.

Nevertheless, foreign investments totaled US$ 70.666 billion in the first nine months of the year, the highest level since 2011. In September alone, Brazil received US$ 9.18 billion in foreign investments, almost twice as much as in the same month last year.