Few surprises as BCB signals further easing to come

There were few surprises from Brazilian policymakers last night as they cut interest rates by 50bps to 10.50% and signalled further easing to come. Despite tentative signs that the economy has picked up a little in recent months, there is nothing here to suggest that rates won’t fall into single-digit territory by the middle of this year – if anything the risks to our forecast for rates to trough at 9.50% lie on the downside.