Ministro da Saúde nega intenção de recriar tributo para financiar setor
23 de fevereiro de 2011Brazil consumers drive Pão de Açúcar profits
25 de fevereiro de 2011Brazil’s economy has recovered from the global economic crisis and needs to combat the onset of “Dutch disease” that may blunt its growth, according to Barclays Plc.
South America’s largest economy is showing early symptoms of the ailment, with industrial output unchanged since the start of the year and net exports contracting on an inflation-adjusted basis, according to Marcelo Figueiredo Salomon, New-York based chief economist for Brazil at Barclays Plc.
The term “Dutch disease” was coined by The Economist magazine to describe a surge in income from new natural-gas fields in the Netherlands during the 1960s that triggered a currency gain and eroded other exporters’ earnings.
A strengthening real would negatively affect the Brazilian economy and needed to be restrained, said Salomon, who spoke yesterday in Tokyo. Brazil’s efforts at holding the currency at around 1.65 to the dollar were feasible, he said.
The real rose to as high as 1.6435 per dollar on Jan. 3, a level last reached in September 2008. In the past two months, the currency traded in a range of around 1.65 real to 1.7 and will remain there at the end of June and December, according to the median forecast of 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Inflation, as measured by the benchmark IPCA price index, rose 0.97 percent in the month through mid-February, pushing the annual rate to 6.08 percent, the national statistics agency said yesterday on its website. The rate quickened to the fastest pace in almost eight years. Brazil’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 11.25 percent last month, the highest since March 2009.
