Virus plunges Brazil into recession with record 9.7 percent drop | ABS-CBN

ADVERTISEMENT

dpo-dps-seal
Welcome, Kapamilya! We use cookies to improve your browsing experience. Continuing to use this site means you agree to our use of cookies. Tell me more!

Virus plunges Brazil into recession with record 9.7 percent drop

Virus plunges Brazil into recession with record 9.7 percent drop

Agence France-Presse

Clipboard

People play football at sunset at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 9, 2014. Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP file photo

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's economy, the biggest in Latin America, contracted by a record 9.7 percent in the second quarter of 2020, plunging into recession as coronavirus lockdowns hit home, the official statistics agency said Tuesday.

Brazil has been hit hard by the pandemic, with the second-highest number of infections and deaths worldwide after the United States, and stay-at-home measures to contain the virus have taken a heavy toll.

"GDP is now at the same level as late 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis," the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said in a statement.

The contraction was worse than the 9.2 percent average forecast by 49 economists polled by business daily Valor.

ADVERTISEMENT

However, it was better than the 11.1 percent drop economists were predicting in May.

Analysts say that improvement was largely thanks to the decision by President Jair Bolsonaro's administration to launch a massive stimulus program that has been paying 600 reals ($110) a month to Brazilians hit hardest by lockdown measures.

Brazil's economy shrank a revised 2.5 percent in the first quarter, as the impact of the pandemic began to hit, IBGE said.

Since then, Covid-19 has exploded in Brazil: the country has now registered more than 3.9 million infections and 121,000 deaths.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

It looks like you’re using an ad blocker

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.