Economic climate improves in Brazil in first quarter, says FGV

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Economic Climate Indicator climbed 5.1 points from the last quarter of 2020 to the first quarter this year and reached 72.3 points, on a scale of 0 to 200 points. The data, which reflects the opinion of experts in the country’s economy, was released today, February 26th, by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV).

In the first quarter, the economic climate reached the highest level since the first quarter of 2020 (98 points), but is still below the average of the past ten years (77.8 points).

The increase was driven by the Present Situation Indicator, which rose 11.7 points from the last quarter of 2020 to the first quarter this year. However, the assessment of the present moment is still low, standing at 25 points.

In turn, the Expectations Indicator, despite being at a higher level (137.5 points), dropped 9.2 points in the first quarter this year, compared to the preceding quarter.

In Latin America, the economic climate had a more accentuated improvement than in Brazil: of 9.8 points. Nevertheless, the region’s performance is below that of Brazil (70.5 points).

Among the ten countries in the region shown in the survey, Brazil ranks third, behind Paraguay (122.2 points) and Chile (95.8 points).

GDP

Most experts (66.7% of those interviewed) revised their projection of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2021 downward compared to the preceding quarter. According to the experts, the Brazilian GDP should close the year growing 3.1%.