Brazil's GDP grows 0.6 percent in 1st quarter
Brazil's first quarter GDP grows 0.6 percent, below forecast
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Brazil says the country's gross domestic product grew 0.6 percent in the first quarter of the year. The result was below the 0.9 percent market analysts had forecast.
IBGE, the government's statistics bureau, says on its website that the economy grew 0.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter in 2012 and 1.09 percent compared to last year's first quarter.
The country's agricultural sector registered the best performance of the quarter, growing 9.7 percent. Industrial output contracted 0.3 percent.
In all of 2012, the gross domestic product grew just 0.9 percent. It was the worst annual result since 2009 when the GDP contracted 0.3 percent.
The government has projected a 4 percent GDP growth by year's end, but analysts don't believe it will grow more than 2.9 percent.
