Brazil falls into recession as election looms
30 Aug 2014 5:59 AM IST
Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, has fallen into recession, further weakening President Dilma Rousseff, just weeks before voting in what will be a tough re-election battle.
Brazil’s national statistics institute said on Friday that GDP shrank 0.6 per cent in the second quarter and revised its formerly positive growth estimate for the first quarter down to -0.2 per cent. Coming ahead of October presidential and general elections, the figures will damage already low industrial and consumer confidence in what once was a fast-growing regional powerhouse.
And the contraction comes with Rousseff locked in a tough fight to win re-election, as the latest polls show a major surge in support for Marina Silva, challenging her from the left. Silva, a former environment minister under Rousseff’s predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, shot to prominence after Socialist candidate Eduardo Campos died in a plane crash on 13August.
Brazil’s national statistics institute said on Friday that GDP shrank 0.6 per cent in the second quarter and revised its formerly positive growth estimate for the first quarter down to -0.2 per cent. Coming ahead of October presidential and general elections, the figures will damage already low industrial and consumer confidence in what once was a fast-growing regional powerhouse.
And the contraction comes with Rousseff locked in a tough fight to win re-election, as the latest polls show a major surge in support for Marina Silva, challenging her from the left. Silva, a former environment minister under Rousseff’s predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, shot to prominence after Socialist candidate Eduardo Campos died in a plane crash on 13August.
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