Brazilian economy grows 0.9% in third quarter of 2024
The Brazilian economy grew by 0.9 percent from the second to the third quarter of the year, driven by the industry and services sectors, marking its 13th consecutive expansion. Compared to the third quarter of 2023, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—the total of all goods and services produced in the country—rose by 4 percent.
In the four quarters to date, Brazil's economy has grown by 3.1 percent. The data were released on Tuesday (Dec. 3) by the government´s statistics agency IBGE. At current values, GDP stands at BRL 3 trillion.
By sector, services and industry grew by 0.9 and 0.6 percent, respectively, from the second to the third quarter. Agriculture was the only sector to decline, contracting by 0.9 percent.
With the newly released results, GDP and the services sector have returned to record levels. However, the industry remains 4.7 percent below its peak in the third quarter of 2013.
The 0.9 percent growth in the third quarter was lower than the 1.4 percent increase recorded between the first and second quarters of 2024.
Employment and income
Rebeca Palis, the IBGE's National Accounts coordinator, attributed the positive quarterly result to factors related to employment and income.
“We continue to see several positive effects, such as a strong labor market. Inflation is above target, but not at extremely high levels, and the government is maintaining its income transfer policy,” she says, noting that the unemployment rate has reached historically low levels.
Palis suggests that the slowdown in growth from 1.4 percent in the second quarter to 0.9 percent in the third quarter is not yet the result of the increase in the basic interest rate by the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) in September, from 10.5 to 10.75 percent per year."
“It takes a while to have a greater effect on economic activity. The third quarter doesn't have such an impact, even though interest rates are at a high level,” she says.
She adds that the basis of comparison is high, which means that increases are less significant.
Year-to-date
From the beginning of the year to the third quarter of 2024, GDP grew by 3.3 percent compared to the same period in 2023. In this comparison, agriculture (-3.5%) declined, while industry (3.5%) and services (3.8%) expanded.
IBGE also reported that the GDP growth for 2023, previously published as 2.9 percent, has been revised upward to 3.2 percent.
