Brazil’s economy contracted last quarter for the first time in over a year, government data showed Thursday, in a downturn expected to complicate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s first year in office.
Latin America's largest economy shrank 0.22% in the final three months of last year, weighed down by declines in industry, according to data from the country's statistics institute.
Oil production was the only bright spot of the industrial sector in the fourth quarter, with manufacturing, construction and utilities all contracting, the institute said.
