MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil's economy back on progress' track

According to the IMF, Brazil will soon become the 8th economy in the world, Lula announced on X

According to a report from Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) released Tuesday, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of South America's largest country grew 0.8% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the last three months of 2023 and 2.5% interannually after a 0.1% contraction in the fourth quarter of last year.

 Agriculture's 11.3% increase in the first three months of the year made it the main driving force behind this recovery, followed by services' 1.4% while industrial output showed a -0.1% variation. As for investments, the index moved up by 4.1% and household consumption rose by 1.5% due to an improving labor market coupled with falling interest rates and inflation, in addition to government subsidies for the needy.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said these figures were “further proof that we are on the right path.”

“GDP advanced in the first quarter of this year, driven by the increase in household consumption and services,” Lula noted on X. “And another piece of good news is that, according to the IMF [International Monetary Fund] forecast, Brazil will move up one more position, to eighth in the world GDP,” he added.

Brazil's economy may yield different results in the near future given the floods affecting the southern State of Rio Grande do Sul, which accounts for 6.5% of Brazil's GDP.