Brazil central bank lowers 2025 growth forecast, sees inflation above target

BRASILIA, March 27 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank revised its economic growth forecast for this year to 1.9% from the 2.1% estimated in December, according to a quarterly monetary policy report released on Thursday.

The report's inflation projections indicate consumer prices will remain above the bank's upper tolerance limit of 4.5% throughout 2025, only starting to decline in the fourth quarter but still staying above the target.

After forecasting inflation at 5.1% for 2025 last week, the central bank now projected inflation of 3.7% in 2026 and 3.1% in the third quarter of 2027, the last period covered by its current estimates.