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The consensus amongst the central bank policy makers saw growth of 6.46 percent, even as countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal are struggling under heavy debt loads – leading to calls for further action to be taken to control the risk of overheating.  Despite the SELIC interest rate increase, such gains (as well as a rising currency valuation) have so far failed to stem the effects of rapid inflation: house prices in São Paulo have increased by 22 percent (comparing the first four months of 2009 to the same period of 2010) and – according to a report by JP Morgan – Gafisa, PDG Realty and MRV Engenheira have all seen an average 33 percent year-on-year revenue rise.  It has therefore become widely predicted for policy makers to increase the SELIC by another 2.25 percentage points by the close of the year (the majority of home lenders have also increased their borrowing costs) and policy makers have predicted growth to slow to between 4.5 and 5 percent in 2011.  As this months factfile also demonstrates, personal spending and car sale statistics have seen marginal drops.  With the national elections approaching, both of the main candidates, Dilma Rousseff and José Serra, remain fairly neck and neck.  Rousseff pledged to transform the economy from an “emerging nation to a developed nation” via a mix of market friendly policy making, social policy reform and reducing public debt as a percentage of GDP.  Serra outlined his commitment to “trimming the fat” on government spending to be “focused more on the people and infrastructure” whilst criticising the current’s governments monetary and fiscal policy (pointing to Brazil having the world’s highest tax and interest rates).  According to the Institute for Management Development (IMD), the country has moved up to place to number 38 in terms of competitivity.

Download: May / June 2010 Brazil Real Estate and Land Investor Newsletter