External accounts registered a positive balance in August for the fifth consecutive month, the Central Bank (BC) reported today (9/23).

The surplus in current transactions, which are purchases and sales of goods and services and income transfers from Brazil with other countries, reached US $ 3.721 billion, the highest positive result ever recorded in August, in the series started in January 1995. In August 2019, a current account deficit of US $ 3.032 billion was recorded.

“This reversal followed the trend observed in the previous month and resulted from an increase of US $ 2.4 billion in the trade surplus for goods and a reduction of US $ 3.5 billion and US $ 882 million in deficits in primary income and services , respectively ”, said the BC, in a report.

In the first eight months of the year, current transactions had a deficit of US $ 8.539 billion, against a negative balance of US $ 34.020 billion in the same period of 2019.

In the 12 months ended in August, the deficit reached US $ 25.4 billion (1.64% of the Gross Domestic Product - GDP, the sum of all goods and services produced in the country), compared to US $ 32.2 billion ( 2.03% of GDP) until July this year.

Trade balance

In August, exports of goods totaled US $ 17.810 billion and imports, US $ 11.850 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US $ 5.960 billion, against US $ 3.552 billion in the same month last year. From January to August, the trade surplus reached US $ 31.870 billion, compared to US $ 27.462 billion in the same period in 2019.

Services

The deficit in the services account (international travel, transportation and equipment rental, among others) reached US $ 1.346 billion in August, compared to US $ 2.228 billion in the same period in 2019. In the first eight months of the year, the negative balance reached US $ 13.727 billion, a result lower than that registered from January to August 2019, of US $ 23.087 billion.

International travel

The result of international travel - which is part of the services account - was negative by US $ 123 million, against US $ 842 million in August 2019. The balance of last month is the lowest for August since 2005 (US $ 103 million) .

The balance of international travel is made up of foreigners' income in Brazil, in the amount of US $ 146 million, and Brazilian spending abroad, of US $ 270 million. From January to August, expenses exceeded revenues by $ 1.892 billion, against the also negative balance of $ 7.872 billion in the same period of 2019.

International travel has been affected by countries' entry and exit restrictions and social isolation measures, necessary to face the covid-19 pandemic.

Income

In August, the deficit in primary income (profits and dividends, interest payments and salaries) reached US $ 1.188 billion, against US $ 8.165 billion in the same period in 2019. From January to August, the negative balance was US $ 28.464 billion, compared to US $ 39.092 billion in the same period last year.

The secondary income account (generated in one economy and distributed to another, such as donations and remittances of dollars, with no counterpart for services or goods) had a positive result of US $ 295 million, against US $ 325 million in August 2019. In the eight In the first months of the year, the positive result reached US $ 1.782 billion, compared to US $ 697 million in the same period of 2019.

According to the head of the Central Bank's Statistics Department, Fernando Rocha, the rise in the dollar has encouraged the sending of funds from Brazilians living abroad to their families in Brazil.

Investments

Net inflows in direct investments in the country (IDP) totaled US $ 1.430 billion last month, compared to US $ 9.524 billion in August 2019. "The uncertainties arising from the pandemic and its impacts on the world economy continue despite direct investments," he said. Rocha.

From January to August, IDP reached US $ 26.957 billion, compared to US $ 46 billion in the first eight months of 2019. In the 12 months ended in August 2020, IDP totaled US $ 54.5 billion, corresponding to 3.51 % of GDP, compared to US $ 62.6 billion (3.94% of GDP) in July. This is the lowest result accumulated in 12 months since August 2010, when it was US $ 50.795 billion.

In August, portfolio investments in the domestic market totaled net inflows (minus outflows) of US $ 2.345 billion, of which US $ 2.045 billion in debt securities and US $ 300 million in shares and investment funds.

In the first eight months of 2020, there were net outflows of US $ 28.281 billion, against net inflows of US $ 7.509 billion, in a similar period last year. The output recorded from January to August is the largest in the BC series, which started in 1995.