Brazil's central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 11.75%. The rise came on the back of a one quarter point rise just over a month ago which was the first since April and in the wake of populist Dilma Rousseff's re-election as president, who last week appointed a new finance team to tackle rising inflation.
Private sector analysts raised their 2014 growth forecast for Brazil's economy to 0.21% from 0.20% last week, the Central Bank said on Monday. But analysts left their 2015 gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate unchanged at 0.80%, the Central Bank said. However it is expected the latest forecast could mean the beginning of the end to the sustained several years slide and an inflection point.
Brazil's Central Bank is concerned about inflation, now running at 6.75%, according to the minutes of last week meeting of the policy committee, released on Thursday.
Brazil and Uruguay as of next December will be able to use local currencies in bilateral trade, disregarding appealing to US dollars, based on the agreement signed last Friday between the central bank presidents of the two countries, Alexandre Tombini (Brazil) and Alberto Graña (Uruguay).
In a surprise move and in divided vote (5 to 3), Brazil's central bank monetary board, Copom, decided to raise its benchmark Selic rate by 25 basis points to 11.25%. A majority of economists and analysts anticipated that the bank would opt to keep rates unchanged.
The Sao Paulo stock exchange soared 4.7% on Monday with the Bovespa index reaching 57.115 points following Sunday's presidential election when no candidate managed 50% of ballots, opening the way for a runoff between pro-business Aecio Neves and president Dilma Rousseff.
Brazil’s decision to hike its key interest rate to 11%, its highest level in two years, has again started to attract investors since there are also strong hopes that Brazil’s next president to be elected in October will rein in spending and adjust macroeconomic policies.
Brazil's central bank on Tuesday said it will continue to respond to challenges in the international scenario after Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the country's credit ratings. This includes a rigorous set of macroeconomic policies, a flexible exchange rate regime and the use of liquidity buffers to smooth out moves in asset prices the bank said in a statement.
Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday to 10.75% from 10.5%, and left the door open for more rate increases while slowing the pace of the hikes. The move continues the bank's yearlong fight against inflation even as rising interest rates and the poor performance of the country's exporters jeopardize already feeble growth in an election year.
Brazilian economic activity fell for the second straight month in December, declining 1.35% relative to November, the Central Bank said in a report Friday. The Economic Activity Index, IBC-Br, considered a reliable predictor of GDP performance, was up 2.57% for all of 2013.