Brazil's Trade Surplus Widened Less Than Expected on Fast Economic Growth

Brazil’s trade surplus widened less than expected in August as faster economic growth coupled with a strong real fueled an increase in imports.

The country’s trade surplus widened to $2.4 billion, up from $1.4 billion in July, the Trade Ministry said today on its website. Analysts expected a surplus of $3 billion, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 20 analysts.

Brazilian imports are rising faster than exports, as companies boost purchases of capital goods and consumers take advantage of a strong real to travel abroad and buy foreign goods.

Brazil’s trade surplus shrank 40 percent in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period a year ago, helping to further widen the current account deficit.

The real, whose 33.6 percent increase against the U.S. dollar last year was the best performance among 25 emerging market currencies tracked by Bloomberg, has gained 0.24 percent this year to 1.7408 per dollar as of 10:48 a.m. New York time.

Imports rose 56 percent to $16.8 billion in August from $10.8 billion a year ago, the Trade Ministry said. Exports rose 39 percent to $19.2 billion from $13.8 billion.

Brazil’s current account gap accumulated over 12 months widened to a record $43.8 billion in July. The deficit will widen to $45.9 billion this year, and may advance to $56 billion next year, according to Finance Ministry estimates.

To contact the reporter on this story: Iuri Dantas in Brasilia at idantas@bloomberg.net; Andre Soliani in Brasilia at asoliani@bloomberg.net

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