AFP, Rio De Janeiro :
Brazil’s economy contracted 4.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, officials said Tuesday, reflecting a
steeper than expected recession in the world’s seventh largest economy. The bad news comes amid a paralyzing political crisis that has delayed action on measures needed to stabilize the economy.
Third quarter GDP shrank 1.7 percent from the previous quarter, well beyond the 1.3 percent expected in an expert survey by business daily Valor. “Brazil’s economy is in intensive care and will remain sick in the upcoming quarters,” Andre Perfeito, chief economist of Gradual Investimentos in Sao Paulo, told AFP.
“It has not yet bottomed out, and instead will worsen at least until the middle of next year,” he said.
Since entering recession in the second quarter, Latin America’s largest economy has gone from bad to worse: in the first nine months of the year, GDP contracted by 3.2 percent compared to the same period last year, the steepest decline in 19 years.
It shrank 0.8 percent in the first quarter, then 2.1 percent in the second, according to revised figures released Tuesday by Brazil’s statistics agency. From July to September, it contracted 4.5 percent as compared to the same quarter a year ago — the worst quarterly performance since 1996. The markets are expecting the economy to shrink by 3.19 percent this year, followed by negative 2.04 percent growth in 2016. If that happens, it would mark the deepest recession in 85 years, going back to the Great Depression years of 1930-31.
Brazil’s economy contracted 4.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, officials said Tuesday, reflecting a
steeper than expected recession in the world’s seventh largest economy. The bad news comes amid a paralyzing political crisis that has delayed action on measures needed to stabilize the economy.
Third quarter GDP shrank 1.7 percent from the previous quarter, well beyond the 1.3 percent expected in an expert survey by business daily Valor. “Brazil’s economy is in intensive care and will remain sick in the upcoming quarters,” Andre Perfeito, chief economist of Gradual Investimentos in Sao Paulo, told AFP.
“It has not yet bottomed out, and instead will worsen at least until the middle of next year,” he said.
Since entering recession in the second quarter, Latin America’s largest economy has gone from bad to worse: in the first nine months of the year, GDP contracted by 3.2 percent compared to the same period last year, the steepest decline in 19 years.
It shrank 0.8 percent in the first quarter, then 2.1 percent in the second, according to revised figures released Tuesday by Brazil’s statistics agency. From July to September, it contracted 4.5 percent as compared to the same quarter a year ago — the worst quarterly performance since 1996. The markets are expecting the economy to shrink by 3.19 percent this year, followed by negative 2.04 percent growth in 2016. If that happens, it would mark the deepest recession in 85 years, going back to the Great Depression years of 1930-31.
