The Brazilian economy will grow by 6.99 percent in 2010, according to a new survey that again lifted forecast for the country's economic growth.
It was the 13th time that the Focus market survey, carried out among the country's financial institutions and released Monday by the Central Bank, moved up the growth figure.
The latest estimate took into account the recently announced first quarter GDP figures that showed remarkably positive results --an expansion of 2.7 percent from the previous quarter and of nine percent from the first quarter of 2009.
For 2011, on the other hand, the market was less optimistic, projecting a growth rate of 4.5 percent, compared to the Finance Ministry's estimate of an expansion of 5.5 percent.
The projection for Brazil's inflation rate in 2010 fell for the second time, to 5.61 percent. For 2011, the projection remained at 4.8 percent.
The Brazilian Real-U.S. dollar exchange rate is expected to be at 1.80 reais a dollar by the end of this year and 1.86 reais a dollar by the end of 2011./.