Brazil's 2015 GDP growth likely to be at -3.8%

Joaquim Levy, the Finance Minister of Brazil came directly from one of Brazil's largest asset management firms and was deemed a market-friendly voice within the government. Unfortunately, Levy resigned on Friday 18th December, the main surprise here was that he lasted this long.

This political paralysis continues and while fiscal adjustments are delayed, Brazil's footing continues to slip, this is seen as just a matter of time before Moodys joins Fitch and S&P in giving the sovereign rating 'junk' status.

"In terms of our macro forecasts, we see GDP growth of -3.8% in 2015 and -2.6% in 2016 with the risk firmly skewed toward an even greater contraction while inflation is forecast to end this year at 10.7% y/y in 2015 and 6.4% y/y next year", says Rabo bank in a research note.