In August, the country’s external accounts had a deficit of US $ 4.7 billion. Despite being number on the negative ground, the result is positive in relation to the $ 7.2 billion deficit of the same month last year.
The data are in the Bulletin External sector statisticsreleased this Friday (26) by the Central Bank (BC), in Brasilia.
The survey points out that in the 12 -month period ended in August, the deficit is US $ 76.2 billion, representing 3.51% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP, set of goods and services produced in the country). In July, the indicator was $ 78.7 billion (3.66% of GDP). Already in August 2024, the negative balance reached US $ 43.6 billion (1.95% of GDP).
In 2025, the deficit is $ 46.8 billion, the highest for this eight -month period since 2015 (US $ 51.6 billion).
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Understand the numbers
External accounts are an indicator that measures Brazil’s exchange relationship with other countries. The balance is calculated through the result of other indicators, such as:
- trade balance (balance between exports and imports)
- Service Balance (spending on transport, travel, insurance, equipment rental, intellectual property and telecommunications)
- Primary income (salary payments, interest remittance, profits and dividends)
- secondary income (transfers between people)
External account with negative balance means that the country sends more money abroad than it receives. This long -term movement can cause the national currency to devalue and make the government more need to get into debt in foreign currency.
Trade balance with tariff
The results of trade and service scales are the main factors that explain the lower deficit of Brazilian external accounts in August before the same month last year.
In August 2025, the trade balance contributed positively with a balance of US $ 5.5 billion. The value in the positive field is the result of growth in foreign sales (US $ 30.0 billion, up 3.8%) and decrease in imports (US $ 24.5 billion, fell 2.6%). For the purpose of comparison, in the same month of 2024 the balance balance had been $ 3.7 billion.
August was the first month with Tariff effect American imposed on Brazilian exports, which applies rates of up to 50% in part of the products sent.
According to the head of the Central Bank Statistics Department, Fernando Rocha, the discharge of exports even with the tariff in August can be explained by searching for new markets.
“It’s an interesting thing to keep up, we can have new markets,” he said, citing cases from China and Argentina.
Other results
In the service scale, there was a deficit of US $ 4.2 billion in AugustHowever, the result was 20.3% lower than the same month of 2024.
The primary income deficit was US $ 6.3 billion in August. Unlike commerce and services, this result represents a 6.4% increase in the interannual comparison. The secondary income bill was positive at US $ 397 million.
High in the accumulated deficit
Explaining why the current account deficit in the first eight months of the year jumped from $ 36.7 billion in 2024 to US $ 46.8 billion in 2025, Fernando Rocha pointed to the trade balance, which is still positive, but to a smaller level.
“We can say that practically the entire worsening in the internal deficit of current transactions reflected the reduction of commercial surplus in the period, fell from $ 48 billion to US $ 37.5 billion.”
The head of the statistics department points out that this trade balance behavior is explained by export stability (+0.3%) and up 6.1% of imports.
Foreign investments
The Central Bank also released information about direct investments in the country (IDP), that is, foreign money that enters Brazil for purchase and expansion of companies, for example.
In August, the investments had a positive balance of US $ 8 billion, close to that registered in August 2024.
In 12 months, the amount is $ 69 billion (3.18% of GDP). In August 2024, this balance was $ 71.2 billion.
Safety mattress
International reserves totaled US $ 350.8 billion in August, an expansion of US $ 5.7 billion over the previous month. It is the largest level since November 2024 ($ 363 billion).
As the BC explains, international reserves are active in Brazil in foreign currency and function as a kind of insurance, a security mattress for the country to face their obligations abroad and external shocks, such as mass exit or dollar entrance interruption in the country.
