SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Industrial production in Brazil rose for the fourth consecutive month in November, data from statistics agency IBGE showed on Friday, exceeding market forecasts even as it maintained a trend of posting small monthly variations.
In Latin America's largest economy, output was up 0.5% in November from October, IBGE said, more than the 0.2% growth expected in a Reuters poll and the highest level for the sequential figure in six months.
Industrial output in Brazil has stuttered this year and had been practically stagnant since June, alternating between small monthly rises and drops as elevated borrowing costs took their toll on the sector.
The November growth was driven by higher intermediate goods production, which rose 1.6% from October, offsetting drops in the output of capital and durable goods.
Production in November also grew 1.3% from a year earlier, according to IBGE, beating the 0.7% increase forecast in a Reuters poll.
"But even with the 0.9% growth accumulated in the last four months, production is still 0.9% below pre-pandemic levels and 17.6% below its May 2011 all-time high," IBGE's research manager Andre Macedo noted in a statement.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government last month unveiled fresh measures to boost its "re-industrialization" plans for the country, providing companies with tax benefits so they can buy new machinery and invest in transportation.
The Lula administration has pledged to boost industrialization by incentivizing "green" projects including flex-fuel and electric vehicles, renewable power and biofuels.