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Brazil's total current accounts (covering all international financial transactions) had a surplus of US$ 178 million in May.
According to the Brazilian Central Bank's monthly report on the country's financial situation, the current account total got a big boost once again from exports - Brazil had a May trade surplus of US$ 3.451 billion.
That was more than enough to cover May remittances totaling US$ 2.3 billion (even though that was 35.4% more than in May 2004) and services payments abroad totaling US$ 829 million.
The May surplus was good news, coming on the heels of a US$ 509 million deficit in April. The cumulative surplus for the year is now at US$ 10.063 billion (compared to US$ 2.183 billion during the same period last year).
As for the rest of 2005, Central Bank director Altamir Lopes says that based on the stronger than expected performance so far he is now forecasting exports closing out the year at US$ 108 billion (up from the prior estimate of US$ 105 billion) and total direct foreign investments reaching US$ 16 billion.
Even with a successful US$ 500 million bond issue (sovereign Global 2019 bonus), however, Brazil's international reserves fell US$ 822 million last month.
The main reasons for the drop were a US$ 310 million outlay to the IMF, interest payments on bonus bonds totaling US$ 177 million and another US$ 117 million paid in interest on reserves.
And a big US$ 829 million to cover various types of royalties - licenses and copyrights, plus transportation and travel abroad, and rent on equipment.
In April, Brazil had reserves totaling US$ 61.591 billion. In May they fell to US$ 60.709 billion.
ABr - www.radiobras.gov.br
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