{"id":304916,"date":"2026-01-26T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/304916\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T20:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T20:00:08","slug":"brazil-corporate-profit-remittances-hit-record-before-new-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/304916\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil corporate profit remittances hit record before new tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul data-testid=\"Summary\" class=\"summary-module__summary__QjADA\">\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Record $18 billion profit remittances in December, central bank data shows<\/li>\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">New 10% tax on profit remittances starts in January under Lula&#8217;s administration<\/li>\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Brazil&#8217;s current account deficit stable at 3.02% of GDP, financed by direct investment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BRASILIA, Jan 26 (Reuters) &#8211; Brazilian companies sent a record amount of profits abroad in December, central bank data showed on Monday, potentially anticipating a new tax on remittances that took effect this year.<\/p>\n<p>Corporate profit and dividend remittances totalled $18 billion, more than double the $8.8 billion sent overseas a year earlier &#8211; the largest figure on record in the central bank&#8217;s monthly series, which began in 1995.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"promo-box\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__promo-box__hVl8h\"> Sign up  <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/brazil-current-account-deficit-ends-2025-steady-covered-by-fdi-2026-01-26\/undefined?location=article-paragraph&amp;redirectUrl=%2Fworld%2Famericas%2Fbrazil-current-account-deficit-ends-2025-steady-covered-by-fdi-2026-01-26%2F\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Reflecting the surge, reinvested earnings in the country posted net outflows of $11.4 billion, meaning remittances exceeded profits earned in the month, another record.<\/p>\n<p>From January, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva&#8217;s administration began levying a 10% withholding tax on all profit remittances abroad.<\/p>\n<p>The measure is part of a fiscal package to offset the expansion of income tax exemptions for workers earning up to 5,000 reais ($948.06) a month, another policy that took effect this month and is a key plank of leftist Lula&#8217;s re-election agenda.<\/p>\n<p>At a press conference, central bank statistics chief Fernando Rocha said the surge in dividend remittances was the main factor behind foreign direct investment posting a net outflow of $5.2 billion in December, versus a $1 billion inflow expected in a Reuters poll.<\/p>\n<p>Rocha said the data could point either to tax anticipation by firms or to strong corporate profits in Latin America&#8217;s largest economy last year.<\/p>\n<p>For 2025 as a whole, FDI ended at 3.41% of gross domestic product, broadly in line with the 3.39% recorded in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>STABLE CURRENT ACCOUNT<\/p>\n<p>Brazil&#8217;s current account deficit was also broadly unchanged from the previous year, reversing a deterioration seen earlier in 2025 and remaining largely financed by direct investment.<\/p>\n<p>The country closed the year with a current account deficit of 3.02% of GDP, compared with 3.03% in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the year, the deficit had widened to nearly 3.7% of GDP on a rolling 12-month basis, reflecting a narrower trade surplus as imports outpaced exports amid strong domestic demand.<\/p>\n<p>Toward year-end, clearer signs of cooling emerged as the central bank maintained an aggressive stance, keeping interest rates at a nearly 20-year high of 15% to steer inflation back toward its 3% target.<\/p>\n<p>Policymakers meet again on Tuesday and Wednesday, with markets widely expecting rates to be kept unchanged for a fifth straight meeting.<\/p>\n<p>In December alone, the current account deficit came in at $3.4 billion, narrower than economists&#8217; expectations of a $5.3 billion shortfall, largely due to a strong $8.8 billion trade surplus, more than double the level seen a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p>($1 = 5.2739 reais)<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"SignOff\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__extra_small__8Buss body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__extra_small_body__Bfz20 sign-off-module__text__LQAMP\">Reporting by Marcela Ayres; editing by Toby Chopra<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__element__5eCce article-body-module__trust-badge__5mS3f\">Our Standards: <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en\/about-us\/trust-principles.html\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__medium__2Rl30 text-module__small__sph8i link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersagency.com\/en\/licensereuterscontent\/?utm_medium=rcom-article-media&amp;utm_campaign=rcom-rcp-lead\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"button-module__link__A3sD0 button-module__secondary__70gBu button-module__round__QDFgq button-module__w_auto__Sem-F\" data-testid=\"LicenceContentButton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Record $18 billion profit remittances in December, central bank data shows New 10% tax on profit remittances starts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[82519,82577,79,84370,84897,84146,83115,83116,179,18,82578,87582,9207,45748,85214,88436,19,84368,17,109547,50178,83122,82565,85212,82508,83002,82579,82534,82562,82533,88553,82707],"class_list":["post-304916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-amers","tag-br","tag-business","tag-cen","tag-dbt","tag-destortao","tag-eci","tag-eco","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-emrg","tag-frx","tag-gdp","tag-gen","tag-gfin","tag-gvd","tag-ie","tag-int","tag-ireland","tag-kmove","tag-latam","tag-mce","tag-mtpix","tag-plcy","tag-pol","tag-pxp","tag-samer","tag-topcmb","tag-topicworld-brazil","tag-topnws","tag-tracc","tag-trd"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115963181500990721","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}