EconomyLatin America

Brazil in worst recession in 25 years

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Official figures released by the Brazilian government on Thursday showed that the country’s economy in 2015 suffered the deepest contraction in 25 years.

Brazil’s state statistics office announced that the country’s GDP fell 3.8 percent in 2015.  It added that this has been the worst annual fall in GDP since 1990, when the economy dipped 4.3 percent.

Leading the slide was the industrial sector, which was down 6.2 percent in 2015. In the last quarter of 2015 the all-important mining sector was down 6.6 percent, reflecting the worldwide slump in commodity prices and demand for Brazil’s iron ore and other raw materials.

Services were down 2.7 percent for the year.

The GDP results put Brazil, currently the world’s seventh biggest economy, in the bottom bracket for Latin America, where Venezuela is the worst performer with a 10 percent plummet in GDP, according to the IMF as highlighted by AFP.

Brazil’s economy is forecast to shrink a further 3.5 percent this year.

The country announced in January that its inflation had hit the highest level in 13 years in 2015 over what many believe has been a result of economic mismanagement that has been worsened by a political crisis in Latin America’s biggest economy.

In recession since the second quarter of last year, Brazil is suffering from rising unemployment and a drop in investor confidence. Both have been fueled by a deteriorating political crisis involving President Dilma Rousseff who has been caught in a scandal related to the state oil firm Petrobras.

The country’s inflation has specifically gained steam in recent months in light of the proceedings for the impeachment of President Rousseff.

Food prices have also picked up amid sharp currency devaluation in the country as well as impacts of severe weather conditions in the south.

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