BRASILIA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's financial market lowered its inflation forecast for 2026 from 5.30 percent to 5.16 percent and raised its forecast for 2027 from 4.18 percent to 4.20 percent, the Central Bank of Brazil said Monday.
According to the bank's weekly Focus survey of the country's leading financial institutions, this marks the first time this year that market analysts have lowered their inflation forecast, reflecting the impact of the central bank's restrictive monetary policy.
Brazil's official inflation target is 3 percent annually, with a tolerance margin of 1.5 percentage points above or below the target.
Analysts' forecast for the Selic benchmark interest rate, which currently stands at 14.25 percent annually, remained at 14 percent for the end of this year and at 12 percent for the end of next year.
Regarding Brazil's economic performance, market analysts maintained their forecast for Brazil's GDP growth at 1.99 percent for 2026 while lowering the 2027 forecast to 1.66 percent.
As for the exchange rate, currently averaging 5.10 reals to the U.S. dollar, analysts expect to see 5.20 reals to the dollar by the end of 2026 and 5.28 reals to the dollar by the end of 2027.
The trade balance is expected to see a surplus of 76.2 billion dollars this year and 75 billion dollars next year. ■
