LatinNews Daily - 02 May 2023

* Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released the latest economic activity index (IBC-Br), which is used to anticipate GDP figures. The index showed a monthly increase of 3.32% in economic activity in February, while economic activity was up 2.76% year-on-year and accumulated growth over the 12 months to February 2023 was 3.08%. The February figure compares with a 0.04% monthly contraction in January. Despite this rise in activity for February, there is still concern over the country’s economic growth being hindered by the BCB’s persistently high interest rates. The president of the business lobby Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI), Robson Braga de Andrade, expressed his concern about the benchmark interest rate of 13.75%, stating, during a senate debate on 27 April, that “we are suffering a lot from weak demand” and that “the impact on industry has been devastating.” At the debate, BCB president Roberto Campos Neto argued in defence of maintaining the interest rate, insisting that economic growth depended on controlling inflation.