Brazil's Economy Grows 0.1 Pct In 2014, Beating Expectation: Finance Minister

Brazil's economy grew 0.1 percent in 2014, beating expectation, Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said on Monday.
"It was a good surprise," Levy told a business conference in Sao Paulo. "The GDP was a bit above what we were expecting."
The slight growth is attributed to a 0.3 percent growth in the last quarter of the year. With a technical recession in the first half and a 0.1-percent growth in the third quarter, Brazil's economy could have been even worse in 2014. The year's figure was the lowest since 2009, the height of the international financial crisis.
While the growth figure will help improve the public debt-to-GDP ratio, said Levy, Brazil must rein in spending to promote a sound fiscal situation.
"We must make a fiscal effort so that public debt can not get in our way," he said. "We do not have favorable conditions now, so we cannot afford to make any mistakes."
Levy also called for more opportunities for the growing middle class and highlighted the importance of taking advantage of the growth Brazil registered in the past few years to strengthen social progress.
Brazil posted its GDP growth as high as 7.6 percent in 2010, and it dropped to 3.9 percent in 2011, 1.8 percent in 2012 and 2.7 percent in 2013. (Cihan/Xinhua)