The Brazilian economy grew by 0.9% between July and September. The country's GDP has thus surpassed analysts' forecasts and put the country's economy on track to surpass the Latin American average for 2024.
GDP in the third quarter was 4% higher than the corresponding quarter of 2023, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported.
Along with a growing economy, unemployment in the country is at its lowest level in 12 years.
However, Brazil is also struggling with stubbornly high inflation and a weakening currency, which have prompted the central bank to consistently raise interest rates and the government to announce spending cuts last week.
"We continue to increase GDP and put more jobs and money in the hands of Brazilians," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
The finance ministry hailed the GDP growth rate as "stable" and said its forecast for 3.3% growth this year should be raised.
Analysts had forecast a 0.8% increase for the third quarter, according to a summary analysis by business newspaper Valor.
"Economic activity continues to show signs of resilience in the short term," said one analyst, Andre Perfeito, after the GDP data was released.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Brazil's economy will grow by 3 percent in 2024, higher than the Latin American and Caribbean average of 2.1 percent.
IBGE data show that growth is led by services, up 0.9%, and industry, up 0.6%.
This offset a 0.9% decline in agriculture, which has been hit by extreme weather events this year, including record drought in several Brazilian regions and flooding in April and May in the south of the country.
Household consumption rose by 1.5% in the three months.
Brazil's unemployment rate, measured between August and October, stood at 6.2%, the lowest since 2012.
Year-on-year inflation as of October was 4.76% - higher than the central bank's target of 3%.
The Brazilian real has fallen to a historic low against the US dollar. One dollar is now worth 6 reals.
Last week, the Lula government announced budget adjustments of nearly $12 billion to curb public spending in order to stabilize the long-term fiscal situation and public debt, which is over 78% of GDP. | BGNES
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