By Brazil Stock Guide — Foreign companies with investments in Brazil remitted $55.1 billion in profits abroad in 2025, $11.1 billion more than previously estimated, according to revised data released by Brazil’s central bank on Monday.
The previous estimate stood at $44 billion. Part of the difference came from payments made directly overseas without going through Brazil’s foreign-exchange market, which have now been incorporated into the official statistics.
At the same time, the central bank lowered its estimate of profits reinvested in Brazil to $17.4 billion from $25.4 billion.
The revision also revealed an unusual pattern in dividend distributions by foreign-owned companies. Businesses declared $84.7 billion in dividends payable in 2025, exceeding the $72.6 billion in profits they earned during the year.
The ratio of declared dividends to profits reached 117%, a level the central bank said had not been seen in previous years.
The central bank linked the move to Law No. 15,270 of 2025, which changed tax rules and allowed the effective distribution of certain profits booked in 2025 to be deferred until 2028.
Despite the $84.7 billion declared as payable, profits actually paid out in 2025 totaled $55.1 billion.
The stock of profits and dividends still payable ended the year at $37.1 billion, up from $7.4 billion in 2024. The increase amounted to $29.6 billion in a single year.
The figures are part of the central bank’s annual revision of Brazil’s external-sector statistics. The update incorporated data from the Census of Foreign Capital in Brazil, the Brazilian Capital Abroad survey and reporting systems covering foreign investment and external credit.
The revision also incorporated $15.5 billion in cross-border corporate restructurings related to 2023 and 2025.
Such transactions can involve shifting a group’s parent company to another jurisdiction without an actual movement of funds, even though they generate entries in external investment accounts.
With the new data, Brazil’s 2025 current-account deficit was revised to $67.4 billion, or 2.96% of gross domestic product, from $66.7 billion previously.
Foreign direct investment liabilities were also revised higher, to $85 billion from $77.7 billion.
Equity investment excluding reinvested earnings was revised to $54.3 billion from $37 billion, including $13.1 billion related to cross-border corporate restructurings and other transactions reported to the central bank at a later date.
Current-account deficit widens in August
In the latest monthly data, Brazil posted a $5.1 billion current-account deficit in August 2026, compared with a $3.8 billion shortfall in the same month a year earlier.
Over the 12 months through August, however, the deficit narrowed to $63 billion, equivalent to 2.47% of GDP, from 3.53% of GDP in August 2025.
A stronger trade balance helped offset some of the deterioration. Brazil’s trade surplus rose to $6.6 billion in August from $5.3 billion a year earlier, as exports increased 12.1%.
Services and income outflows moved in the opposite direction. The services deficit widened 28.2% to $5.3 billion, while net spending on telecommunications, computer and information services more than doubled to $1.3 billion.
The primary-income deficit rose to $7 billion from $5.4 billion a year earlier. Net profit and dividend payments increased to $5.9 billion from $4.2 billion in August 2025.
Foreign direct investment into Brazil totaled $7.4 billion in August and $86.6 billion over the preceding 12 months, equivalent to 3.39% of GDP.
Portfolio investment, by contrast, recorded a net outflow of $5.2 billion in August. Investors withdrew a net $6.5 billion from Brazilian equities and investment funds, partly offset by $1.3 billion in net inflows into domestic debt securities.
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