BRASÍLIA: Analysts expect Brazil’s economy to contract by 3.45 percent this year, the Central Bank said Monday. Last week, analysts said they expected Brazil’s economy to contract by 3.40 percent this year.
The gross domestic product (GDP) figures come from the Boletin Focus, a weekly Central Bank survey of analysts from about 100 private financial institutions on the state of the national economy. Analysts expect the inflation rate to hit 7.57 percent this year, down from the 7.62 percent estimate last week.
If the forecasts prove to be accurate, Brazil’s economy is headed for its worst economic performance since 1990, when it contracted by 4.35 percent, and it will post back-to-back contractions for the first time since 1948.
Brazil had an inflation rate of 10.67 percent in 2015, the highest level in 13 years, while the economy contracted by 3.71 percent, according to analysts surveyed for the Boletin Focus. The government will release the official 2015 GDP figure on Thursday.
