Brazil's financial sector estimated a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.5 percent in the country in 2011, the country's Central Bank announced on Monday.
However, according to the bank's Focus market survey, the first released this year, Brazil's GDP growth in 2011 will reach 7.61 percent. The estimate is about the same as Finance Minister Guido Mantega's, according to whom Brazil's GDP will grow 7.5 to 8 percent in 2011.
The projection for 2011's inflation rate rose, reaching 5.32 percent. The figures are within the target set for this year -- 4.5 percent with a tolerance of 2 percentage points.
In the first 11 months of 2010, Brazil accumulated an inflation rate of 5.25 percent. The figure for the entire year is expected to be released by the end of the week.
The economists expect the country's industrial production to rise 5.3 percent in 2011. Trade surplus is expected to hit 8 billion dollars and current transactions is predicted to incur a deficit of 67.9 billion dollars. Foreign direct investments are expected to reach 39.5 billion dollars.
The country's annual basic interest rate, Selic, is forecast to rise to 12.25 percent from the present 10.75 percent until the end of 2011. In 2010, the Selic rate rose 2 percentage points./.