The Brazilian economy grew by 2.5% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year. Compared to the last quarter of 2023, the gross domestic product rose by 0.8%, better than analysts\u2019 forecasts of 0.7%<\/p>\n
Over the past 12 months, the country\u2019s economy has grown by 2.5%. These figures were released on Tuesday (4), by the government\u2019s statistics agency IBGE. In current values, Brazil\u2019s GDP stands at BRL 2.7 trillion (USD 515 million).<\/p>\n
Industry and services grew at 2.8% and 3% respectively, compared to the same period last year. Agriculture was down by 3%.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor climate reasons, particularly El Ni\u00f1o, it was already known that this wouldn\u2019t be a good year for agriculture,\u201d IBGE analyst Rebeca Palis explained.<\/p>\n
Agricultural products with significant harvests at the start of the year showed a drop in estimated annual production compared to the same period last year, including soybeans (-2.4%), corn (-11.7%), tobacco (-9.6%) and cassava (-2.2%).<\/p>\n
The growth in industry was driven by extractive industries (5.9%), which posted the highest result driven by an increase in both oil and gas extraction and iron ore.<\/p>\n
Household consumption (4.4%) and government spending grew compared to the first quarter of 2023. Gross fixed capital formation rose 2.7%. Exports grew 6.5%, and imports 10.2%. In the first quarter of 2024, the investment rate reached 16.9% of the GDP.<\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s quarter-on-quarter growth<\/strong> The estimates do not take into account the damage caused by April\u2019s flooding in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.<\/p>\n Source: ANBA<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe 0.8% quarter-on quarter increase follows a contraction of 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023. This is the best result since the 0.9% increase in the second quarter of 2023. The service sector drove up the change, particularly retail and personal services.<\/p>\n