Brazil current account deficit $6.420 bln in May
posted by AJOT | Jun 20 2013 at 08:00 PM | International Trade
Brazil's current account deficit widened in May as the trade balance remained weak, central bank data showed on Friday, continuing a deteriorating pattern this year and prompting the central bank to widen its forecast for the full-year deficit.
The current account deficit was $6.42 billion in May, wider than expectations for a gap of $6.2 billion, according to the median forecast of 19 analysts surveyed by Reuters. In May 2012, the gap was $3.422 billion.
The central bank revised its forecast for the current account deficit in 2013, widening it to $75 billion from $67 billion previously, and acknowledging that foreign direct investment would not cover that gap as it has in previous years.
The central bank expected a wider full-year current account gap largely because of a sharp revision in the bank's estimate for the 2013 trade surplus, which it more than halved to $7 billion.
The bank kept its estimate for foreign direct investment unchanged at $65 billion.
Foreign direct investment in Latin America's largest economy was $3.880 billion in May, above market expectations for $2.9 billion.
In the 12 months through May, the current account deficit was equivalent to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product, the highest in over a decade. (Reuters)