Photo: Jornal do Comércio
After a strong adjustment in the first wave of the pandemic, the deficit in the country's external accounts rose again in 2021, with the recovery of economic activity driving imports and remittances of profits and dividends by companies.
The country's external accounts closed last year with a deficit of US$ 28.11 billion, equivalent to 1.75% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to data from the Central Bank (BC) released yesterday.
The number was below the BC's projection for the period, which was US$ 30 billion, as disclosed in the last Quarterly Inflation Report (RTI), but it is more than offset by the entry of Direct Investment in the Country (IDP), with US$ 46 .44 billion. The 2021 result still reflects the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The current account deficit in the period was greater than that recorded in the previous year (US$ 24.5 billion, or 1.69% of GDP), but smaller than that observed before the health crisis. In 2019, it was US$ 65.03 billion.
“There was an important reduction from 2019 to 2020 and in 2021 this result remained at a low level, although higher than in the previous year”, highlighted the head of the BC statistics department, Fernando Rocha.
According to him, in relation to current transactions, 2021 was divided into two periods.
“Until May and June, we had a reduction in the current account deficit, in line with what had been occurring in 2020. From the second half of the year onwards we saw a gradual increase in the deficit. This is consistent with an economy that demands more goods and services from abroad and in which companies have greater profitability, increasing remittances”, he said.
Rocha highlighted that profits and dividends, one of the factors that drove the increase in current transactions last year, ended 2021 at US$ 29.85 billion and practically returned to 2019 levels, when they totaled US$ 31.9 billion.
In the opposite movement, the trade balance has been showing positive results since the beginning of the pandemic and had a surplus of US$ 36.18 billion in 2021, higher than that observed in the previous year, of US$ 32.37 billion.
Rocha highlighted that imports of cryptoactives totaled US$ 6 billion in 2021. “The Repetro [customs regime], imports of cryptoactives and imports of low-value goods explain the difference between the trade balance according to the Secex concept (US$ 61.2 billion) and those in the balance of payments concept (US$ 36.2 billion)”, highlighted Rocha.
In December alone, external accounts accumulated a negative result of US$ 5.891 billion – the monetary authority estimated a deficit of US$ 6.8 billion. For January, the BC projects a deficit of US$ 8.4 billion.
Current transactions show the difference between what enters and leaves the country in external operations, such as foreign trade, income and transfers. A smaller deficit, however, could mean weaker economic performance, as was the case in 2020.
International travel, one of the accounts most affected by the health crisis, presented a deficit of US$ 2.302 billion in 2021, the result of US$ 5.250 billion spent by Brazilians abroad and US$ 2.497 billion by foreign tourists in the country. Brazilian expenses abroad fell by 70.15% compared to 2019, when they totaled US$ 17.593 billion.
Rocha stated that the recent increase in contamination with the omicron variant of the coronavirus creates uncertainty in the short term in the international travel bill.
In December, Brazilian tourists spent US$ 784 million in other countries, more than double the same month in 2020, with US$ 370 million.
By Larissa Garcia and Alex Ribeiro — From Brasília and São Paulo
27/01/2022
Source: Valor Econômico
