Brazil was on the brink of recession in 2014 – Economist

The Brazilian economy grew 0.1% in the full year 2014, which put Latin America’s largest economy to the brink of recession, the worst result since 2009.
 

The Brazilian economy grew only 0.1% last year, barely kept the country out of recession, said Friday the statistics office government.

It was the worst result since 2009 and bad news for President Dilma Rousseff, whose popularity is collapsed along with the performance of the Brazilian economy.

One of the factors that contributed the poor economic performance last year was down 4.4% on investments compared to 2013.

Consumer spending was the driving force of the economy for years, but only increased 0.9% last year .

“This seems untenable, given the increase in consumer debt and signs that the labor market is weakening,” said Capital Economics, based in London, said in a statement mailed mail.

However, most economists expected the figures of the entity statistics, known by its acronym IBGE, showed that the country had entered recession last year. Most private economists surveyed by the Central Bank expect Brazil into recession this year.

The IBGE said the better-than-expected 2014 were due essentially to growth of 0.7% in the service sector and agribusiness, which grew 0.4%. The industrial sector contracted 1.1 percent.

The IBGE said gross domestic product (GDP) in Brazil in 2014 was 5.52 billion reais ($ 1.63 billion), while GDP per capita was 27,229 reais ($ 8,500).