Costa and the first quarter GDP: "It confirms a deceleration trend that had been observed".

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of this year turned out to be lower than expected by the market, which closed at 7.2%, compared to the 7.9% projected by analysts after the Imacec figures for the first three months of the year were released.

The president of the Central Bank, Rosanna Costa, pointed out that the figures released on Wednesday “confirm a deceleration trend that had been observed” and specified that, on the GDP side, the deceleration is “more or less in line” with what was expected.

However, the economist explained that, when analyzing the data on the demand side, “it is likely that some slower adjustment than we had in the projection will be observed”.

However, she recalled that the process of revising the projections for the June Monetary Policy Report (IPoM) is just beginning.

Regarding the current account deficit, which reached an accumulated balance in a year equivalent to 7.3% of GDP in the first quarter, the head of the issuing institute indicated that “the projections consider a gradual correction of the current account deficit starting this year, which is nothing other than the reflection of the imbalances that are in the economy, and this is taking place at the expected speed”.

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He added that, from now on, the governing body expects that the economy “will leave this level well above its carrying capacity, its potential capacity, and move on to levels that are sustainable in the long term”.

Thus, he stated that “as the economy slows down, there will be adjustments in consumption, adjustments in investment, and the level of production will be adjusted to these sustainable levels”. And he added that “there are some impacts on markets such as the labor market, which, as we have seen to date in the last records, after a very accelerated recovery, is adjusting more slowly”.