Brazil’s economy shrank last quarter, in challenge for Lula

By CARLA BRIDI and DAVID BILLER
Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s economy contracted in the fourth quarter for the first time in over a year, according to data released Thursday by the country’s statistics institute. That represented the continuation of a downturn that is expected to complicate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s first year in office. GDP in Latin America’s largest economy was weighed down by a decline in industry. Oil production was the only bright spot in the industrial sector in the fourth quarter, with manufacturing, construction and utilities all contracting, the institute said. Lula has spent considerable time bemoaning the fact that the central bank has held its benchmark rate at its highest level since 2016.