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The Brazilian economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter of the year, a sharp slowdown from the 1.4% recorded in the first quarter, the government reported on Tuesday.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America's largest economy was boosted by services, which account for about two-thirds of the productive sector, and advanced 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, and industry, which grew 0.5%, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
On the other hand, the thriving agricultural sector, which boosted the Brazilian GDP in the first quarter, fell back 0.1% in the second.
Household consumption, another key element of the economy, rose 0.5% compared to the previous quarter.
In comparison to the same period last year, GDP advanced 2.2% year-on-year, while in the accumulated figures for the last twelve months it rose by 3.2%. The second quarter was marked by the beginning of trade tensions triggered by the US government's announcement of a minimum 10% tariff on imports from all countries. Furthermore, also during that period, the White House doubled to 50% the tariff on steel, of which Brazil is one of the main exporters to the North American nation. Despite the commercial challenge, in the second quarter, Brazilian exports rose 0.7% compared to the first three months of the year, while imports fell 2.9%, according to data presented this Tuesday. In this context, the Government improved in July by one tenth the country's growth forecast for this year to 2.5%, a figure that is still far from the 3.4% recorded in 2024.
