Brazilian Spending Abroad Drops Significantly in May

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilians spent US$1.471 billion (R$5.884 billion) on international travel in May. The result represents a drop of 1.5 percent against April (US$1.493 billion) and 8.9 percent compared to May of last year (US$1.615 billion).

From January to May, Brazilians’ spending abroad totaled US$7.28 billion, ten percent less than that for the same period in 2018 (US$8.086 billion). The figures were released today by the Central Bank (BC).

The Central Bank employs a general approach to measuring external accounts.

Within the services account, where travel expenses are recorded, the Central Bank now itemizes some new services, such as intellectual property (formerly royalties), and telecommunications, computing, and information, which includes software expenses.

The note also includes other services such as research and development, advertising, engineering, architecture, cleaning and decontamination, and cultural, personal and recreational services.