Brazil's economy foresees zero growth in 2015

Economists from Brazil's financial market foresaw that the country will register a zero GDP growth rate in 2015.
According to a survey released Monday, the GDP growth projections made by the economists surveyed have recently been very low, but it is the first time they foresaw a zero growth for 2015, Xinhua news agency reported.
Brazil had two quarters of contraction in the first half of 2014. In the third quarter, the country registered a growth of 0.1 percent. The figures for the full year, which are expected to be released in late February or early March, are expected to be very low as well.
The survey predicted a 7.15 percent inflation rate for 2015. If this projection is confirmed, Brazil will exceed the inflation target set for this year, which is 4.5 percent with a two percentage points tolerance, a figure meant to bring the inflation rate under 6.5 percent.
The economists also foresaw that Brazil's annual basic interest rate Selic will reach 12.5 percent by the end of 2015, which stood at 11.75 percent at the start of the year.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's popularity has plunged because of his economic adjustment measures and corruption in the state-run oil company Petrobras, said Human Rights Minister Ideli Salvatti.
Her approval rate has suffered a momentary fall from 42 percent in last December to 23 percent in February, while those who rated her administration as bad or very bad increased from 24 percent to 44 percent in the same period, a Datafolha poll revealed late Friday.
"Evaluations are always momentary and we are absolutely convinced we will regain electors' trust with the measures which will be adopted in this first year of Rousseff's second term," the minister said, adding that "The actions practiced by the administration will undoubtedly make her approval rates rise again." Rousseff was re-elected for a second presidential term in October 2014, in the narrowest victory in the history of Brazilian elections.
She is the third president in a row to be re-elected in Brazil, while the Workers' Party became the only party in history to be elected for four consecutive terms.