Brazil's economy firms, shifting political landscape ahead of polls
After a torrid couple of years, Brazil's battered economy is expected to confirm signs of recovery this week, shifting the ground under the already unpredictable 2018 general elections.
On Thursday, the IGBE state statistics office will release October unemployment figures. Go Associados consultants expect the seventh monthly fall to 12.1 percent, down from a record high 13.7 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Then on Friday, the IBGE will announce GDP numbers for the third quarter. A Bloomberg survey of 31 economists predicts 0.3 percent growth over the previous quarter, the third consecutive quarterly increase in output.
This would put some meat on the recovery from Brazil's worst recession in history which saw GDP shrink 3.5 percent in 2015 and 3.6 percent in 2016.
It also injects an intriguing new element into the run-up to the October 2018 presidential and legislative elections.
So far, polls have been dominated by leftwinger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a two-term ex-president who has been convicted of corruption. Some way behind him in second place is rightwing firebrand and former army officer Jair Bolsonaro.
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