Brazil's Economy Turns Negative

From the FT:

Brazil’s economy was likely to have contracted in April compared with a year earlier – the first such decline since September 2009, according to a central bank leading indicator.

The Banco Central do Brasil’s IBC-Br economic activity index for April contracted 0.02 per cent, indicating that the global slowdown, which has undermined demand for Brazilian exports and investment, is beginning to weigh on the country as much as during the 2008 financial crisis.

“It’s hard to draw some good conclusions from these numbers,” said Guilherme Loureiro, economist at Barclays Capital in São Paulo. But he said government stimulus measures should help the economy recover during the second half of the year.

 

Brazil’s growth has become the slowest of the so-called Brics club of large emerging economies that also includes Russia, India and China.