Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1 July – Brazil’s economy is expected to post growth this year of 7.3 percent, the best result since 1986, according to the latest projection from the Brazilian Central Bank, published Wednesday.

In its Quarterly Inflation Report, the central bank raised its projection for gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year from 5.8 percent to 7.3 percent.

In the first quarter, GDP posted growth of 9 percent against the same period of 2009, according to figures from Brazil’s Geographical and Statistics Institute (IBGE).

In its report, the central bank said that growth in the first quarter was expected to continue in the following quarters, “due to the favourable trajectories of the labour market and confidence indicators of businesspeople and consumers and due to a boost to credit operations.”

In the new projection from the monetary authority, growth this year will be led by the industrial sector (11.6 percent), followed by the agricultural sector (5.4 percent) and services (5.3 percent). (macauhub)