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The
Brazilian central bank's IBC-Br economic activity index fell
0.52 percent in December from the previous month, the bank said.
A Reuters survey of 20 analysts forecast a 0.63 percent decline
in the indicator, a gauge of activity in the farming, industry
and services sectors.
For all of 2015, activity fell a staggering 4.1 percent, the
index showed. Economists expect the Brazilian economy to shrink
again by more than 3 percent this year.
The Brazilian economy is suffering its worst crisis in decades
as investors lose confidence in the once emerging-market star,
after years of erratic economic policy under President Dilma
Rousseff.
A sharp drop in commodity prices has also hurt an economy that
grew by more than 4 percent a year in the last decade.
Brazil was downgraded further into junk territory by Standard &
Poor's on Wednesday, after five months after the same rating
agency stripped the country of its investment grade.
The IBC-Br index is seen as a proxy for the gross domestic
product figures released by the country's statistics agency,
IBGE, in March.
(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Alison Williams)
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