Brazil's GDP growth to slow down to 0.9pc

BRASILIA, Oct 13 (Xinhua): Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 0.9 per cent this year due to slow economic recovery, down from 1.1 per cent in 2018, the country's top industry confederation said.

Poor economic and industrial performance can be attributed to the sluggishness of the country's reform agenda, said the third-quarter report by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI). The report also showed a disconnect between the growth rates of consumption and industrial production.

"Retail sales have been growing, but this has not spread to industry, which continues to be almost stagnant mainly due to the lack of competition," said Flavio Castelo Branco, executive manager of the economic policy unit at the CNI.

Brazil's unemployment rate is projected to drop to 11.9 per cent, a decrease of 0.4 per cent compared with 2018, said the report.

The CNI also estimated that the general government debt-to-GDP ratio will rise from 77.2 per cent in 2018 to 78.4 per cent in 2019.