RIO DE JANEIRO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian economy got out of recession and resumed growth in the first quarter of 2017, according to an indicator published by the country's central bank on Monday.
The central bank's Economic Activity Indicator (IBC-Br) has long been considered an unofficial preview of the GDP figures, which are published by the country's statistics agency IBGE.
With still two months to go before the release of the official first quarter GDP, the first quarter IBC-Br disclosed on Monday registered a 1.12 percent growth compared to the previous quarter.
Brazil has been mired in recession since 2015. It registered contractions of 3.8 percent and 3.6 percent in 2015 and 2016, respectively, marking the worst-performing years of the national economy since 1900.
If confirmed by the official GDP figures in July, Brazil will have interrupted eight consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
The latest projections point to a slight recovery in 2017, with a GDP growth of 0.5 percent in the year.
The Brazilian government said earlier the economy has begun to shake off the recession, but recovery will still be slow due to various negative factors.
