Brazil foreign accounts see $1.684 bi surplus in August

Brazil’s foreign accounts had a positive balance of $1.684 billion in August, the Central Bank reported today (Sep. 25). In the same month in 2020, the surplus stood at $950 million in current transactions—purchases and sales of goods and services and income transfers with other nations.

The result is the best for the month of August since 2006, when foreign accounts saw a surplus of $2.1 billion.

According to Fernando Rocha, the Central Bank’s head of Statistics, the difference in the performance of current transactions, in the yearly comparison, is due to the increase in the commercial surplus. “The balance of trade has experienced a solid growth, in both exports and imports,” he said. He explained that this comes as a reflex of the growth in economic activity across the world.

In the 12-month period ended in August, the deficit in current transactions is reported at $19.505 billion, compared to the negative balance of $20.239 billion in July 2021.

The reduction, Rocha noted, also stems from the mitigation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic crisis.

For the first eight months of the year, the deficit is $6.539 billion, below the negative balance of $12.957 billion from January to August in 2020.