* The secretariat of economic policy (SPE) in Brazil’s finance ministry has released the November edition of its bi-monthly Boletim MacroFiscal report on economic activity, in which it lowered its 2023 GDP growth forecast to 3.0%, down from the 3.2% forecast in the September report. The growth projections for the agricultural sector in the November edition was 14.0%, unchanged from September, while the forecast for the industrial sector was raised from 1.5% in September to 1.9%. The SPE expects extractive industries, such as oil production, to continue its “strong expansion” compared to last year, but manufacturing is expected to contract for the second consecutive year. In this November report, the services sector’s growth forecast was lowered from 2.5% to 2.2%. The national statistics institute (Ibge) had registered declines in the services sector in August (-0.9%) and September (-0.3%).