Brazil's sees current account deficit of $5.4 bn

BRASILIA: Brazil's registered a current account deficit for the beginning of 2011 of $5.4 billion, the central bank said Wednesday.

That figure confirmed a trend already seen last year, when the annual current account balance was a record $47.5 billion deficit.

The current account balance is a key indicator of a country's trade and income performance.

Brazil's deficit showed that imports and spending abroad was outpacing the still hefty inflow of direct foreign investment into Latin America's biggest economy.

The central bank forecast it would close 2011 with a current account deficit of $64 billion.

The bank also said it had foreign reserves of $297.7 billion in January, an increase of $9.1 billion since the end of 2010. Most of that came from central bank spot foreign exchange purchases designed to take some of the steam out of the steadily appreciating currency, the real.