Patrick Gillespie
NEW YORK — (CNN) Amid a political crisis, Brazil has dived deeper into recession.
Brazil’s economy, the largest in Latin America, shrank 5.4% in the first quarter of this year, according to government figures released Wednesday.
The severe contraction occurred while Brazil’s congress sought to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, who was temporarily suspended earlier in May by a congressional impeachment vote. Her vice president, Michel Temer, who Rousseff labeled as a traitor, took over as interim president.
Brazil is in its longest recession since the 1930s. The bad news didn’t stop there.
On Tuesday, government officials announced that unemployment in Brazil had shot up to 11.2% in the period between April and February. There are 11.4 million unemployed Brazilians, up by nearly 20% from a year ago.
Against this backdrop, Brazil is only 65 days away from hosting the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The political crisis, recession and Zika virus have raised concerns about Rio’s readiness to host the games. So far, Olympics officials say facilities are nearly all done and express confidence that it will be a successful Olympic games.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. (Photo: Pixabay)
