2017.08.2116:23:00UTC+00BRAZIL: Interest Rate Forecast For 2017 Kept Unchanged At 7.50% Per Year

Economists polled by the Brazilian central bank kept unchanged their estimates for the country's benchmark interest rate (Selic) by year-end and for 2018 at 7.50%, both for the second week in a row.

Meanwhile, average interest rate estimates for 2017 remained at 9.91%. For 2018, the forecast for the average interest was lowered for the fourth week in a row, to 7.30%, from 7.41% last week.

In July, the Brazilian central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) cut the country's benchmark interest rate to 9.25%, from 10.25%, in line with market expectations, and reduced its forecasts for inflation in 2017 and 2018.

The interest rate cut announcement came after Brazil posted in June its first monthly deflation in eleven years, and also the strongest month-on-month price decrease since the introduction of the country's current currency, the real, in the 1990s.

Also, the Brazilian central bank monetary policy committee believes that in its next meeting it could cut Selic by one percentage point again in September if economic conditions allow such decision, according to the minutes of the most recent meeting.