GE Increases Brazil Sales Forecast

General Electric increased its 2005 sales forecast in Brazil from $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion on rising lending and sales of equipment such as jet engines. CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in his annual report to shareholders in March that he expects 60 percent of the company´s sales rise in the next decade to come from outside the US. GE forecasts total sales will rise to as much as $170 billion this year from $152 billion in 2004.