Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0,2% in the first quarter of this year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported.
"In the first quarter of 2019, GDP fell by 0,2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018; this was the first negative result in this comparison since the fourth quarter of 2016 (-0,6%)," the state agency said in a statement.
Brazil is back in recession, mainly due to poor results in industry (-0,7%) and the agricultural sector (-0,5%), while services rose by 0,2%.
Compared to the same period in 2018, GDP grew by 0,5%; in the four quarters ending in March 2019, it rose by 0,9% compared to the four quarters immediately preceding it.
In the first quarter of 2019, the investment rate was 15,5% of GDP, higher than that observed in the same period in 2018 (15,2%).
In 2018, the Brazilian economy grew by 1,1%, after a rise of 1,1% in 2017 and contractions of 3,5% in 2015 and 3,3% in 2016.
The economic outlook for 2019 is low, mainly due to the drop in business and consumer confidence and doubts about the approval of the pension system reform proposed by the Bolsonaro government, which has not yet made progress in the National Congress.
According to the latest weekly survey by the Central Bank, released on April 27, the main economists of Brazilian banks forecast growth of 1,23% for this year (this was the 13th downward revision of expectations).
Last week, the Ministry of Economy also revised its growth forecast for this year downwards, from 2,2% to 1,6%.
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