LatinNews Daily - 14 December 2023

* The monetary policy committee (Copom) of Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has lowered the country’s benchmark interest rate (Selic) for the fourth consecutive meeting, from 12.25% to 11.75%. The rate cut decision was unanimous among the nine committee members, who also suggested, according to a Copom statement, that further rate cuts could be expected in the next meetings. The statement also included Copom’s annual inflation forecasts, which projects 2023 to close the year at 4.6%. This would be within the BCB’s 2023 annual inflation target range of 3.25% +/-1.5. Copom expects 2024 to close the year at 3.5% annual inflation, within the 2024 target range of 3.00% +/-1.5.