- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
Brazil exits recession, but faces tough year
Brazil exited recession in the fourth quarter, the government said Friday, though weak growth and high inflation still dog Latin America's biggest economy as President Jair Bolsonaro gears up to seek re-election in October.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.5 percent for the period from October through December, reversing its 0.3-percent and 0.1-percent contractions in the previous two quarters, said the national statistics institute, IBGE.
That brought GDP growth for 2021 to 4.6 percent on the year, erasing the economy's painful contraction in pandemic-battered 2020, which was revised to 3.9 percent.
But the economy remains a headache for far-right leader Bolsonaro, with growth still weak and inflation hitting Brazilian households hard.
Uncertainty fueled by Bolsonaro's expected election showdown with leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and international turmoil around Russia's invasion of Ukraine will likely weigh heavily on the Brazilian economy this year, analysts say.
"2022 is a difficult year due to both internal and external factors," said economist Gilberto Braga of business school IBMEC in Rio de Janeiro.
"Uncertainties around the country's political future are making things unpredictable and will delay strategic decisions on the economy... And external issues will weigh down global GDP, and Brazil's along with it," he told AFP.
"The current scenario is 'stagflation.'"
- 'Weak momentum' -
The rebound was driven by Brazil's key agricultural sector, which grew 5.8 percent quarter-on-quarter -- though it contracted 0.2 percent on the year, hit by the country's worst drought in nearly a century.
The services sector grew 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and 4.7 percent year-on-year, while industry contracted 1.2 percent for the quarter but grew 4.5 percent for the year.
The return to growth "was mainly a result of turnaround in the agricultural sector, which is unlikely to be sustained," William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at consulting firm Capital Economics, said in a note.
"In the meantime, high-frequency indicators for the services and industrial sectors point to weak momentum in the first quarter of 2022."
His team maintained a forecast of GDP growth of 0.8 percent for 2022, "making Brazil the worst performer in the region this year."
Economists polled by Brazil's central bank currently forecast GDP growth of 0.3 percent for 2022.
Brazil's annual inflation rate came in at 10.06 percent last year, crashing through the central bank's target of 3.5 percent.
The central bank has responded with one of the most aggressive tightening cycles in the world, rapidly raising the key interest rate to 10.75 percent from an all-time low of two percent in March 2021.
The hawkish monetary policy is in turn weighing down growth, sapping the economy's recovery from Covid-19.
Brazil has been among the countries hit hardest by the pandemic, with more than 650,000 deaths -- second only to the United States.
Even with 72 percent of Brazil's 213 million people now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, high inflation and weak growth have combined to keep the economic recovery tepid.
With prices soaring and wages stagnant, the average Brazilian's purchasing power fell by seven percent last year.
L.Mesquita--PC