Brasília--Brazil's central bank Monday forecast stagnant growth and rising inflation for 2015, with Latin America's largest economy advancing just 0.13 percent and inflation hitting 6.99 percent.
The central bank's latest weekly forecast collating data from 100 financial institutions nationwide saw growth, which soared to 7.7 percent in 2010, sliding back from the previous projection of 0.38 percent -- only the latest in a series of reined-in forecasts.
Inflation, which last year edged above a government ceiling of 6.5 percent and well clear of a central target of 4.5 percent, will rise from a current 6.67 to 6.99 percent.
Last year saw inflation progressively creep up while market analysts and the government, as well as the International Monetary Fund, successively cut growth forecasts ever closer to zero amid concerns over capital flight and falling investment.
Brazil, which earlier this month posted its first annual trade deficit in 14 years, has suffered from a major drop in Chinese demand for its raw materials -- a key factor behind the high growth seen five years ago.
Last week, the central bank raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 12.25 percent in a bid to dampen inflationary pressures.
Leftist President Dilma Rousseff, reelected in October, has vowed to pursue austerity in her second term to rescue fraying public accounts and recoup investor confidence.
AFP
