UPDATE 1-Foreign investment in Brazil beats estimates in July, year-to-date reaches $52.6 billion

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BRASILIA, Sept 26 (Reuters) -

Foreign direct investment in Brazil beat estimates in July, central bank data showed on Monday, with a year-to-date performance already coming close to what the regulator had predicted for 2022.

Foreign direct investment in July reached $7.7 billion, much higher than the $3.1 billion forecast in a Reuters poll, marking the best performance for the month since 2014 ($9.9 billion).

Year-to-date, it totaled $52.6 billion, close to the $55 billion the central bank had forecast in June for the full year. In 12 months, inflows reached $65.6 billion, said the central bank.

The Economy Ministry has argued that private investment in the country has grown in the wake of liberal economic reforms already implemented by President Jair Bolsonaro, anticipating even rosier prospects with the reconfiguration of value chains after the pandemic and Ukraine's war.

Bolsonaro is running for re-election in October but trails former leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in opinion polls.

According to the central bank, Brazil's current account deficit was $4.1 billion in July, against a $0.5 billion surplus expected in a Reuters poll.

The year-to-date deficit reached $18.4 billion, almost doubling from the same period last year.

Central bank data also showed that investors made a net redemption of $60 million from Brazilian markets in July, including $816 million outflows in stocks and $755 million inflows in bonds. (Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by David Goodman and Andrea Ricci)