BRASILIA, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday that the 2.9 percent growth of the country's economy in 2023 was much higher than the 0.9 percent forecasted by financial market analysts at the beginning of last year.
The official GDP result was released on Friday morning by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
"We have grown much more than expected, and we will continue working to grow with quality and improve everyone's lives," Lula said on his social media account.
Also on Friday, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters that the GDP result exceeded the projections made at the beginning of Lula's third term.
"Many people thought that, due to the very restrictive monetary policy, the GDP in the second half of the year would fall," said Haddad. "There was a belief that there would be a slowdown to the point where we would have a slight economic contraction."
The Finance Minister reiterated the ministry's projections for the GDP performance at 2.2 percent in 2024. ■
