By Marcela Ayres
BRASILIA, Jan 26 (Reuters) – 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.
Corporate profit and dividend remittances totalled $18 billion, more than double the $8.8 billion sent overseas a year earlier – the largest figure on record in the central bank’s monthly series, which began in 1995.
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.
From January, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration began levying a 10% withholding tax on all profit remittances abroad.
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’s re-election agenda.
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.
Rocha said the data could point either to tax anticipation by firms or to strong corporate profits in Latin America’s largest economy last year.
For 2025 as a whole, FDI ended at 3.41% of gross domestic product, broadly in line with the 3.39% recorded in 2024.
STABLE CURRENT ACCOUNT
Brazil’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.
The country closed the year with a current account deficit of 3.02% of GDP, compared with 3.03% in 2024.
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.
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.
Policymakers meet again on Tuesday and Wednesday, with markets widely expecting rates to be kept unchanged for a fifth straight meeting.
In December alone, the current account deficit came in at $3.4 billion, narrower than economists’ 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.
($1 = 5.2739 reais)
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; editing by Toby Chopra)
