RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian economy grew 1.74 percent in the third quarter of the year compared with the second quarter, the Central Bank of Brazil said Friday.

The Index of Economic Activity of the Central Bank (IBC-Br), which is seen as a preview of the gross domestic product (GDP), saw its largest growth between July and September since the second quarter of 2012, when it hit 1.92 percent.

It is also the first positive result of the IBC-Br in 2018. The index saw a decline of 0.15 percent in the first three months of the year, and followed by a decline of 0.74 percent between April and June.

Year-to-date, Brazil's economy has grown 1.14 percent in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period last year.

In the last 12 months ending in September, the country's economic activity grew 1.45 percent.

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America. The forecast of the financial market for the Brazilian economy is a 1.36 percent growth this year, while the government expects the GDP to increase by around 1.5 percent.