Government Brazilian raised its forecast for economic growth in 2023 from the 1.61% initially forecast to 1.90%, due to the good indicators recorded in the first quarter, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said Thursday.
“The first quarter was good. relatively good. It would be better if it had grown more, but it relatively surprised economists.” said the minister in an appearance in the Chamber of Deputies.
The new projection will be made official next week when the ministry will release a new national accounts report, the senior official said.
According to Haddad, the above-expected growth in sectors such as industry, commerce and services in the first quarter suggests that Brazil could end the year with growth of between 1.80% and 2.0%.
The new government projection is much higher than that of market economists, who expect growth of 1.02% this year, and also higher than that of the Central Bank (1.2%).
In any case, if this growth is confirmed, the largest economy in Latin America will slow down again, after having expanded 5.0% in 2021 and 2.9% in 2022.
The minister did not rule out that, after a good start to 2023, the economy will slow down for the rest of the year due to the high interest rates (13.75% per year) imposed by the Central Bank to try to curb inflation.
Haddad also said that the Government will also review its projection for inflation this year, from 5.3% to 5.6%, a forecast lower than that expected by market economists (6.02%) but higher than the ceiling of the goal that the Bank Central set for 2023 (4.75%).
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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