Brazil's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2010 was estimated at 7.8 percent, the country's Central Bank announced on Wednesday.
According to the Central Bank's Economic Activity Indicator (IBC-Br), the IBC-Br reached 138.68 points last year, up from 128.64 points in 2009. The GDP expansion surpassed 10 percent at the beginning of the year, and registered some deceleration in the second half of 2010.
The IBC-Br is considered a preview for the official GDP figures, which will be released in March by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The indicator, which takes into consideration data from Brazil's agricultural, industrial and tertiary sectors, is also used by the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) to decide whether to make any changes in Brazil's annual basic interest rate Selic, which is currently at 11.25 percent.
The bank estimated that Brazil's GDP will grow by 4.5 percent in 2011.