Brazil Posts US$3 Billion Foreign Exchange Inflow in May, First Surplus Since July 2019

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Reuters) Brazil posted a net foreign exchange inflow of US$3.1 (R$15.2) billion in May, central bank figures showed on Wednesday, its first net inflow since July last year.

The figures showed a surplus of almost US$4 billion from trade-related FX contracts and an outflow of US$882 million from financial FX contracts, resulting in the biggest monthly inflow since February last year.

So far this year, however, Brazil has posted a net FX outflow of US$9.7 billion, compared to a US$3.2 billion net inflow in the same period last year.

In the eight months of outflows from August last year through April, a net US$55.3 billion flowed out of Brazil.

The figures for May show that the central bank sold a net US$520 million of currency reserves, and commercial banks reduced their net short dollar cash position to US$25.5 billion, the lowest in six months.

Taking into account its currency market activity in May, including swaps and repurchase operations, the central bank’s net FX position fell to US$299.3 billion from US$303.4 billion in April, the lowest since at least January 2018.

Source: Reuters