Dollar inflow is positive again in February
Folha de S. Paulo - 03/05/2009
After accumulating four months of negative results, from October to January, the flow of foreign capital to Brazil became positive again in February, according the Central Bank. The volume of funds that entered the country in the month exceeded the remittance made in the period by US$ 841 million. The return of the foreign investors to the Stock Exchange helped: for the first time since May 2008, the balance of these investments was positive, at R$ 544 million (US$ 236.5 million). The result of February was positive, thanks, mainly, to the behavior of the foreign trade. Those transactions were responsible for a net inflow of US$ 2.871 billion in the country, an amount almost four times above the surplus seen in January. With regards to the so-called financial operations - which include, for instance, the foreign investments in the financial market - they continue presenting a negative balance, even though such negative balance is smaller than the one of previous months. In February, this segment was responsible for the exit of US$ 2.030 billion from the country, a fall of 43% in relation to January. The positive balance seen last month does not compensate all the losses registered since the worsening of the international financial crisis, as, between October 2008 and last January, the BC (Central Bank) registered a net exit of US$ 21.2 billion from the country. But it can be a sign that the flow of dollars to the country is beginning to get back to normal.