Brazil's state development bank, BNDES, is lending to companies at the lowest rate relative to the country's benchmark in two years, undercutting President Dilma Rousseff's efforts to curb inflation, revealed the Sao Paulo financial press.
Brazil is in the middle of a monetary tightening cycle, central bank President Alexandre Tombini said on Friday, days before the bank is expected to announce a hike in the benchmark lending rate.
If recent evidence is anything to go by, Brazil’s latest effort to stem the rise in the Real is unlikely to have a lasting impact on the markets, according to Capital Economics.
Brazil’s Real retreated from the highest level since August 2008 after the central bank intervened five times Thursday to slow the currency’s advance. The Real fell 0.2% to 1.6318 per dollar, from 1.6288 Wednesday.
The Brazilian government said GDP is expected to grow by more than 5% a year through 2014. The Finance Ministry says in a release argued that increased long term investments by the private sector will be fundamental in achieving the projected growth.
The inflow of US dollars to Brazil so far this year (Jan-March 4) marks a surplus of 24.3 billion USD over outflows, which helped to further appreciate the Brazilian Real, according to the latest figures released by the Central Bank.
Brazil's central bank said Thursday it remained cautious about the outlook for prices due to uncertainties in the global economy, and hinted that more than just interest rates may be needed to bring inflation back into line with targets.
Brazil Wednesday central bank decision to raise interest rates by 50bps to 11.75% was widely expected but significant for two reasons, according to a report from Capital Economics .
Brazil’s Central bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark overnight rate by a half-point for a second straight meeting to cool inflation that is approaching the upper limit of the government’s target range.
The president of Brazil’s private bank Itau brushed aside risks of a credit bubble in the country and underlined that sustained economic growth will be rewarded by an expansion of between 15% and 20% in its credit portfolios in 2011.