UPDATE 1-Brazil may bump up 2024 economic growth forecast, finance minister says
(Adds details and context in paragraphs 2-7)
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, March 27 (Reuters) - Brazil's finance ministry may bump up its forecast for 2024 economic growth to at least 2.5% in the coming months, Minister Fernando Haddad said on Wednesday.
The current gross domestic product (GDP) forecast estimates 2.2% growth.
Haddad said at an industry event in Sao Paulo that he hopes the central bank "will not be frightened" by recent employment data, adding he sees room for interest rates to come down more.
Data released earlier on Wednesday by the labor ministry showed Brazil's economy
created a net
306,111 formal jobs in February, above the estimate from economists polled by Reuters.
In an interview to CNN Brasil also broadcast Wednesday afternoon, Haddad said he is not too concerned by recent core inflation data, particularly services inflation.
His remarks come after
consumer prices
rose slightly above expected in their mid-March reading.
Brazil's central bank this month cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points for the sixth consecutive meeting to 10.75%, but signaled that it may weigh more modest cuts in the future.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo and Bernardo Caram in Brasilia; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by Steven Grattan and Kylie Madry)
