Brazil’s GDP falls during the first quarter of 2020

Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted 1.5% in the first three months of the year compared to the last quarter of the previous year, as a consequence of the effects of the pandemic on the country’s economy.

This fall in the Brazilian economy interrupts the trend of four consecutive quarters of growth and represents the worst record in Brazilian GDP since the second quarter of 2015 (-2.1%). Compared to the previous quarter, the Brazilian GDP fell by 0.3%

The activities that decreased the most were the Services sector, which represents 74% of the country’s GDP, with a decrease of 1.6%. Declines were also reported in Industry (-1.4%), while the agricultural sector grew by 0.6%.

“What happened in Brazil is the same as what has happened in other countries affected by the pandemic, which has been the setback in services, due to the closure of establishments. Durable goods, vehicles, clothing, beauty salons, academies, accommodation and food suffered a lot with social isolation measures”, details the IBGE.

In the services sector, there were negative results in: Other Services (-4.6%), Transport, Storage and Mail (-2.4%), Information and Communication (-1.9%), Commerce (-0.8) stand out. %), Administration, Health and Public Education (-0.5%), Financial intermediation and Insurance (-0.1%). The only positive variation was registered in RealEstateActivities (0.4%).

Within industrial activities, there were falls in the Oil extraction sector (-3.2%), in addition to Construction (-2.4%), Transformation Industry (-1.4%); gas, water activities , sewerage and waste management activities (-0.1%).

K. Tovar

Source: El Economista