Brazil & Southern Cone - August 2008 (ISSN 1741-4431)

Economic activity in June was 5% up on June 2007, the central bank reported on 5 August. This figure was well above what independent economists had expected and much higher than the 2.1% year-on-year growth of May. The impressive June figure suggests that the government may have been hasty in cutting its official growth forecast for annual growth in 2008 from 5.3% to 4.2%.  On 6 August the government maintained its cautious view: the finance minister, Andrés Velasco, said that despite the strong July figure the possibility that GDP growth this year would be over 4% was “only slightly more certain". He forecast that second quarter growth would be 4%.

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