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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Brazilian economy 'stable', central bank claims

Latin America's largest economy is to continue to enjoy strong growth, the president of the Brazilian Central Bank has said.

Henrique Meirelles said that the real-term GDP rise of 6.4 per cent marked in Brazil across the second quarter would be matched over months to come.

The comments were made during a speech to the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce in New York.

Mr Meirelles commented: "In June 2008, the Brazilian economy created almost 1.9 million new formal jobs per year, the basis of the kind of growth pattern that Brazil has embarked into in the last few years. The unemployment rate is also coming down."

He added: "The business community in Brazil is betting that domestic demand will stay during the next years, with ups, downs and cycles, yet without the kinds of stops-and-goes that Brazil has seen in the past."

The comments come as the central bank issues its new inflation forecast - predicting that the rate will hit five per cent by the end of 2009.

This will mean that the rate will moderate from a projected 6.44 per cent at the end of 2008, according to figures posted on the bank's web site.

The prediction was derived from a survey of 100 economists.

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