SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Economic activity in Brazil performed worse than expected in October, central bank data showed on Wednesday, corroborating broad readings of economic cooling.
The IBC-Br index, a key predictor of gross domestic product (GDP), fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.06% from September, while economists polled by Reuters expected a 0.1% growth.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the IBC-Br was up 1.54% over October 2022 and grew by 2.19% in the 12 months.
Latin America’s largest economy has previously prospered this year on the strength of its agribusiness and extractive industries. It was also supported by measures implemented by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government to enhance household disposable income and stimulate domestic demand.
But the growth lost momentum from the second half of this year under a restrictive monetary policy, even though economic growth is on track to reach around 3% this year, well above the level of less than 1% expected by the market at the beginning of the year.
(Reporting by Camila Moreira; Editing by Steven Grattan)
