Brazil cuts 2012 growth forecast

Brazil's central bank on Thursday revised downward the country's 2012 GDP growth forecast from 2.5 to 1.6 percent but said it expected a better performance next year. "The GDP growth for 2012 is forecast at 1.6 percent, 0.9 percent lower than that in the previous report," the bank said in its quarterly report. The Central Bank's forecast is lower than the one projected by the government, which expects two percent growth for this year while market analysts project a 1.57 percent expansion. The world's sixth largest economy grew only 0.6 percent in the first half of this year and 2.7 percent last year. The Central Bank cited "prospects of low growth of the world economy for an extended period of time" but said it expected an uptick of the Brazilian economy beginning in the second half of this year. "The pace of activity should intensify in this (second) half and next year, with some asymmetry between the various sectors," the report said.