SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil has slipped into recession, with government figures released Friday showing gross domestic product contracting for a second consecutive quarter.
The government’s IBGE statistics bureau said GDP in the second quarter fell by 0.6 percent from the previous three months. Revised figures for the first quarter showed a drop of 0.2 percent. The government initially had reported first-quarter growth of 0.2 percent.
The bureau said the country’s GDP stands at 1.27 trillion reals ($567 billion).
Brazil last experienced a recession between October 2008 and February 2009, when a world economic crisis slashed demand for steel, minerals, farm goods and other Brazilian exports.
IBGE’s national accounts coordinator, Rebeca de La Roque, told the G1 news portal that the main cause for this year’s second quarter contraction was a 5.5 percent drop in investments and a 1.5 percent decline in industrial output.