Brazil Economy To Grow 9 Pct In 4Q, Official Says

ALEX KENNEDY

SINGAPORE (AP) — Brazil's economy, Latin America's largest, will likely grow about 9 percent in the fourth quarter as consumer demand surges and exports recover, a top trade official said Thursday.

"The domestic market is really growing now," Deputy Trade Minister Welber Barral told reporters on the sidelines of a yearly Latin American business conference in Singapore. "The consumer is really spending and that has sustained our overall growth."

Exports, which will likely fall 22 percent this year, have shown signs of life recently, with a 20 percent increase in sales to the United States last month, Barral said.

Gross domestic product in the world's eighth largest economy is poised to expand 5 percent next year after growth between 1 percent and 1.5 percent this year, he said.

Investor confidence in Brazil has grown since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took power in 2003, and the South American country will likely receive more than $40 billion of foreign direct investment next year, up from more than $30 billion this year, Barral said.