Brazil’s economy goes into recession

Brazil’s economy, the largest in Latin America, slid into recession in the third quarter of the year as agricultural production dropped, the government said Thursday.

GDP declined 0.1 percent for the second straight quarterly fall, the government statistics agency IBGE said. 

The drop in the second quarter was revised to a larger 0.4 percent from the initial estimate of 0.1 percent compared to the previous three months.

In comparison to the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew four percent, the agency said.

Farm production fell 8.0 percent in the third quarter, while manufacturing was flat and the services sector grew 1.1 percent, the agency said.

Brazil’s GDP slowdown in the second quarter ended the recovery it had started in late 2020 after the collapse it suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.