Projections for the growth of the Brazilian economy this year have been revised downwards from 3.0 percent to 2.5 percent according to the latest report from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Brazilian press reported.

This is the second time this year that ECLAC has revised growth projections for Brazil downwards and the latest estimate is the same as that of the International Monetary fund (IMF) and is close to that of the Brazilian Central Bank (2.7 percent) and of market analysts (2.28 percent).

In 2012, Brazil posted economic growth of just 0.9 percent, and the projection announced by ECLAC includes figures for the first half of this year, whilst the previous projection, published in April, only included figures for the first quarter.

A few days ago the Brazilian government itself lowered its economic growth forecast from 3.5 percent to 3 percent, at the same time as it announced additional budget cuts of 10 billion reals.

At the time, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the country was experiencing a period of uncertainty, “in which GDP figures are revised all the time,” and therefore, “the government may be behind in relation to what the market is observing.”

According to the Brazilian press, the government’s economic team has increased cuts to State Budget expenditure to 38 billion reals. (macauhub)