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Brazil Posts $1.26 Bln Weekly Foreign Trade Surplus

SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazil posted a foreign trade surplus of $1.26 billion in the Sept. 8-14 period, the Trade and Development Ministry said Monday.

For the period, exports totaled $5.07 billion while imports were $3.81 billion. The ministry did not offer figures for the corresponding week of 2007.

With the new September figures, Brazil's year-to-date trade surplus totaled $18.46 billion, well below the $29.1 billion registered at the same point in 2007.

Brazil's trade surplus is likely to decline in 2008, according to a survey of economists released earlier Monday by the central bank. The economists offered a median forecast for the 2008 surplus of $23.6 billion. In 2007, Brazil posted a surplus of $40.04 billion.

The surplus is likely to decline because of, among others factors, the rise in imports due to the continued expansion of Brazil's domestic economy, which has led to heavy demand for consumer products, raw materials and capital goods.

Gross domestic product in Latin America's largest economy accelerated to a 6.1% annual rate in the second quarter from 5.9% in the first quarter, beating analysts' forecast of 5.6%.

-By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-2847 4521; rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2008 10:16 ET (14:16 GMT)


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