BRASILIA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian financial analysts raised the inflation forecast for this year from 5.98 percent to 6.01 percent, and from 4.14 percent to 4.18 percent for next year, the Central Bank of Brazil said Monday. Target inflation in Brazil is 3.25 percent this year and 3 percent next year, in both cases with a margin of tolerance of 1.5 percentage points. According to the central bank's weekly "Focus" survey of the country's top financial institutions, despite the expected increase in inflation, analysts lowered the forecast for the benchmark interest rate, called Selic in Brazil. The Selic forecast went from 12.75 percent to 12.5 percent for the end of 2023, to then gradually decline to 10 percent by the end of 2024. Regarding Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP), analysts downgraded the growth forecast for 2023 from 0.91 percent to 0.9 percent, and from 1.44 percent to 1.4 percent for 2024. Brazil's currency, currently trading at 4.95 reals to the U.S. dollar, is expected to trade at 5.24 reals to the dollar at the end of the year and at 5.26 at the end of the next. The trade balance is projected to leave a surplus of 55.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2023 and 52.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Foreign direct investment in Brazil should reach 80 billion U.S. dollars in both 2023 and 2024, according to analysts.
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