Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said in a statement that her government ensures sustained economic growth, with contained inflation. The announcement followed market estimates saying that Brazil's GDP expansion this year would be down to 1.63%, below official and private recent estimates above 2%.
Brazil's economic output grew 2.3% in 2013 for a third straight year of modest expansion by Latin America's biggest economy, the government announced on Thursday. GDP for the final quarter of the year rose a 0.7% compared to the third quarter, according to Brazil's Institute for Geography and Statistics, IBGE.
Finance minister Guido Mantega said the latest release from investment bank Credit Suisse forecasting Brazil’s 2012 GDP growth at 1.5%, was “a joke”.