Brazil registers gains in foreign trade in the last three months

The president of the Applied Economic Research Institute (Ipea), Luciana Servo, said this Friday (30) to Brazil Communication Company (EBC) that, in the last three months, Brazil had gains in foreign trade, with the reopening of the Asian market, and in the income of the population, due to the payment of social benefits. The data are part of the Overview of the Conjuncture Letter, an analysis of the macroeconomic situation made by the agency, which will be released next Tuesday (4).

“We will have very good results and one of the data that this publication will bring is that we had gains in foreign trade. This means that we are selling more abroad. This is very good, because resources will enter Brazil and help us with the economic part, ”she said.

According to the president of Ipea, this gain was due to the reopening of the Chinese market after the pandemic and also due to the competitiveness of Brazil. “First, China reopened its market after the pandemic. Also, Western economies are bouncing back and buying more from Brazil. But some economies left the market during the pandemic, such as soybeans and oil, and Brazil took the opportunity to win these markets in the competition”.

The document, which analyzes the most important topics of the macroeconomic scenario, will also bring an inflationary scenario below the previously projected. “We are seeing a deceleration of the inflation process, with the reduction of administered prices, those controlled by public companies or regulatory agencies”, said Luciana Servo

“In this case, we had a lower than expected increase in fuel and electricity. As a result, the expected inflation for this period was lower than what we had initially projected. Both in the month and in the last twelve months. We are seeing a reduction in the IPCA (Extended Consumer Price Index), used to readjust contracts, which is close to 5%. Before it was above 5.5%. We are also seeing the INPC (National Consumer Price Index) affected by the drop in food prices,” he added.

Basic interest rate

Another point analyzed by the document is that the country’s current interest rate, currently at 13.75% per year, has made it difficult for families and companies to recover their purchasing power. “In general terms, the results are positive, but we need to advance in our monetary policy, in addition to others, but mainly in monetary policy. (Advance) in this discussion, on how we are going to encourage a lower interest rate to be able to guarantee investment and guarantee greater consumption by families as well”, pointed out the president of Ipea.