Brazil updates GDP methodology

Brazil's economy grew more than previously estimated from 2000 through 2011, according to a broad revision of gross domestic product data presented on Wednesday by statistics agency IBGE. The nation's average growth rate in that period was 2.1 percent higher than previously calculated, IBGE said after revising its methodology in line with international standards.
In 2011, the year President Dilma Rousseff took office, Brazil's economy expanded by 3.9 percent, more than the 2.7 percent previously estimated. Her administration took several measures to spur economic growth in that year, including interest rates cuts, fearing an abrupt economic slowdown that would materialise in following years. The new methodology reclassified some sectors as services, incorporated recent agriculture and household income surveys and tweaked procedures for calculating investments. IBGE said it would present revised quarterly data for 2012 through 2014 later this month and publish final full-year growth rates for 2012 and 2013 in November. The methodology changes had been discussed for years and did not take economists by surprise. "This first step in updating Brazil's national accounts came in as we expected, overall," economists at consultancy firm MCM Consultors wrote in a note.