FX.co ★ Brazil Q2 GDP Growth Improves Unexpectedly

Brazil's economic growth unexpectedly improved in the three months ended June, owing largely to output in the industrial sector, according to figures released on Thursday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE.

Gross domestic product advanced a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent sequentially in the June quarter, slightly faster than the 1.1 percent rise in the March quarter, which was revised up from 1.0 percent.

In contrast, economists had expected GDP growth to ease to 0.9 percent.

Among sectors, output in the industrial sector contributed the most to GDP, rising 2.2 percent compared to the previous quarter. This was followed by a 1.3 percent rise in the service sector's output.

Meanwhile, production in the agriculture sector was only 0.5 percent in the June quarter.

On the expenditure side, gross fixed capital formation grew 4.8 percent and household consumption rose 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, government consumption expenditure dropped 0.9 percent.

Exports were 2.5 percent lower than in the previous quarter, while imports climbed 7.6 percent.

On a yearly basis, GDP growth accelerated to 3.2 percent in the second quarter from 1.7 percent in the first quarter. That was above the 2.8 percent rise expected by economists.