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Brazil economic activity expands for third month in November

Published January 15, 2018 Updated January 15, 2018 12:39pm

The central bank's economic activity index rose 0.49 percent from October after seasonal adjustments, in line with the median 0.50 percent forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

The figures are the latest indication that Latin America's largest economy may have shifted up a gear at the end of 2017 after a much-awaited investments revival in the third quarter.

Brazil's gross domestic product likely grew around 1 percent last year, snapping a two-year period of contraction as slow inflation and record low interest rates propped up consumer spending.

Economists forecast 2.8 percent growth in 2018, according to a weekly central bank survey, which would be the fastest since 2013.

Analysts nevertheless say uncertainty around this year's presidential elections, the most wide-open in decades, could keep a lid on investments.

 

Copyright Reuters, 2018