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Brazil's Worst Recession: 8 Consecutive Quarters of Contraction

By Patrick Gillespie

"It doesn't feel like the recession is over in the streets of Brazil, but you find a lot of optimism in board rooms and within the ranks for government," says AS/COA's Brian Winter.

Brazil's hangover from its annual Carnival festival is extra bad this year.

Latin America's largest country is still crawling through its worst recession in its history.

Brazil's economy shrank 3.6% in 2016. That's just a slight improvement from 2015, when it contracted 3.8%, but still far from good. It's the country's longest recession with eight consecutive quarters of contraction.

Unemployment hit 12.6% in January. A year ago it was 9.5%. By comparison, at the height of the U.S. recession in 2009, unemployment peaked at 10%. Nearly 13 million Brazilians are out of work.

Despite hints of a recovery underway, life isn't improving for ordinary Brazilians, experts say.

"It doesn't feel like the recession is over in the streets of Brazil, but you find a lot of optimism in board rooms and within the ranks for government," says Brian Winter, vice president at the Council of the Americas….

Read the full article here.

 

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