LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 27 July 2018

* Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has reported that the country posted a current account deficit of US$3.58bn with the rest of the world in the first semester of the year. The result is in stark contrast to the US$584m current account surplus registered in the first half of 2017. The BCB attributed the deterioration in the external balance to the sharp increase in imports registered in the first half of the year but also on the increased level of spending registered by Brazilian nationals abroad. Meanwhile foreign direct investment (FDI) into Brazil reached US$29.8bn in the first half of the year, 17.5% less than in the first half of 2017 and the lowest FDI figure for the period in the last eight years. Last year Brazil’s current account closed with a US$9.76bn deficit, the country’s best result since 2007. The latest figures suggest that this will not be replicated this year.

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