LatinNews Daily - 19 November 2024

*The economic policy secretariat (SPE) of Brazil’s finance ministry has released the November edition of its bi-monthly Boletim MacroFiscal report, in which the GDP forecast was raised from 3.2% to 3.3%. The report also included an annual inflation forecast of 4.40% for 2024. This marks an increase from the 4.25% forecast from the September edition of the report but would still fall within the target range of 3.0% +/-1.5 set by the central bank (BCB). Meanwhile, private sector economists and analysts consulted by the BCB expect annual inflation to breach the target range this year. Their latest forecasts, included in the central bank’s weekly Focus bulletin, show a projection of 4.64% for 2024, the seventh consecutive week in which they raised their inflation forecast. In the SPE’s latest report, the government expressed optimism that the final months of this year would see a deceleration in inflation. The report highlighted that rising household bills in recent months have mainly been driven by items with volatile prices such as food and fuel.