Rio, 12/5/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Applied Economic Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada) (IPEA) has reduced its estimate for this year's GDP growth to 0.2%, down from its September estimate of 0.5%.

As for the year-end trade surplus, IPEA has raised its estimate from US$19.3 billion, to US$24.1 billion. (AB)