The Central Bank's Economic Activity Index (IBC-Br), released today (15), shows that the Brazilian economy grew 1.15% in 2018.

In the last quarter of the year, compared to the previous period, growth was 0.20%, according to seasonally adjusted data (adjusted for the period). The fourth quarter compared to the same period of 2017 showed growth of 1.53%.

In December, compared to November 2018, there was an increase of 0.21%. In comparison with the last month of last year and December of 2017, the growth reached 0.18%.

The IBC-Br is a way of evaluating the evolution of Brazilian economic activity and helps the BC to make its decisions on the basic interest rate, the Selic. The index incorporates information on the activity level of the three sectors of the economy: industry, trade and services, and agriculture and livestock, as well as the volume of taxes.

The indicator was created by the Central Bank to try to anticipate, by approximation, the evolution of economic activity. The official indicator is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).