Brazil's current account deficit widened and financial market outflows accelerated in February, figures showed on Wednesday, highlighting the country's deteriorating financial position even before any impact from the coronavirus outbreak has been felt.
The current account deficit widened to 2.91% of gross domestic product, the widest since December 2015, while investors pulled more than $3 billion out of Brazilian investment funds, the central bank said.
The figures reflect the intensifying pressure on Brazil's currency, which has lost more than 20% of its value against the dollar this year and earlier this month traded at a record low near 5.25 per dollar.
The monthly current account deficit was $3.9 billion, wider than the $3.45 billion shortfall forecast in a Reuters poll, while foreign direct investment was exactly in line with the forecast at $6 billion.
A goods trade surplus of $2.5 billion in February was wiped out by a services deficit of $2.6 billion and a primary income deficit of $3.9 billion, the central bank said. On the portfolio side, a net $4.5 billion was pulled from Brazilian stock funds in February and $1.1 billion was poured into debt securities, resulting in a net portfolio outflow of $3.4 billion, the central bank said. That brought net portfolio outflows in the first two months of the year to $1.9 billion, compared with a net inflow $10.7 billion in the same period last year.