The International Monetary Fund (IMF) thinks Brazil’s economy will shrink in 2015 at double the rate it previously predicted, Brazilian news agency Brasil reported.
The amended forecast was in the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook report, released on Tuesday.
The institution now expects Brazil to experience a 3-percent recession in 2015, up from the 1.5-percent annual contraction it had anticipated in an April assessment, the media outlet said.
The IMF noted that confidence among consumers and businesspeople in Brazil continued to fall, along with investment and domestic demand.
In commentary on other Portuguese-speaking Countries, the bank’s latest report mentioned a likely 3.5-percent growth for Angola’s economy in 2015, and a 7-percent expansion for Mozambique. It noted however that in both cases that would be the lowest expansion since 2009, reported Portuguese newspaper Económico.
The IMF’s outlook for Cape Verde in 2015 estimated 3.5 percent growth, while it thought Guinea Bissau’s economy was likely to expand by 4.7 percent in 2015, Portuguese news agency Lusa added.
East Timor’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is set to grow 4.3 percent in 2015, the IMF predicted.
According to the bank’s latest forecast, Portugal’s economy is due to expand by 1.6 percent in 2015, which is in line with the IMF’s previous outlook for the European country.
The bank predicted a 6.8-percent growth for China in 2015, according to Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Negócios.
In the first half of this year China’s economy expanded at a rate of 7 percent, the annual target set by the Central Government for the whole of 2015.
On Monday, the World Bank released its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update. The Washington-based institution predicted China’s GDP would grow by 6.9 percent this year.
