Flavia Albuquerque      Reporter Agência Brasil

São Paulo – Minister of Finance, Guido Mantega, called the latest numbers from the government statistical bureau (“IBGE”) that showed GDP growth in the second quarter at 0.4%, “…good but not extraordinary.” The minister added that there was clearly a tendency for growth during the rest of the year.

“The numbers we have today are numbers we are looking at through the rearview mirror. It is a result that we left behind. Anyway you look at the numbers, it is a good result, compared to the first quarter. It is not exceptional, but it foretells a tendency for better results in the second half,” declared Mantega.

The minister went on to say that the data indicates an economy that is gradually speeding up and that expectations are that expansion will continue in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

“The next two quarters will be better than the second when the international crisis worsened and exerted a negative influence on performance in emerging nations,” concluded the minister.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Crescimento da economia é prenúncio de resultados melhores no segundo semestre, diz Mantega