LatinNews Daily - 26 June 2026

*Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released the latest edition of its quarterly Relátorio de Política Monetária (RPM) economic report, which showed an annual GDP growth forecast of 2.0% for 2026. This is up from the 1.6% forecast in the previous RPM edition released in March. In the latest report, the bank highlighted the “positive surprise” of the first quarter growth figures published by the national statistics institute (Ibge) in late May, which showed a 1.1% quarterly growth rate for Q1 2026, as well as improvements in the growth outlook for agriculture and extractive industries. However, the report warned that the country’s benchmark interest rate (Selic), despite being lowered to 14.25% on 17 June, remains high and could continue to restrict economic activity for the rest of the year. The BCB also stated that the conflict in the Middle East has brought “uncertainty” to growth projections. Regarding the sector breakdown, the latest RPM projected 1.7% annual growth for agriculture this year, up from 1.0% in the March report. The growth forecast for industry has been raised to 2.3%, up from 1.2%, while the services sector is projected to grow by 1.9%, up from the previous forecast of 1.7%.