Brazil's economy entered recession as gross domestic product fell 0.8 percent in first quarter, the government announced Tuesday.
The drop followed a 3.6 percent decline in output in the fourth quarter of 2008, which officials said means Brazil's economy now meets the widely accepted definition of recession: two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Last month, Industry Minister Miguel Jorge admitted Brazil was in a "soft recession" -- confounding previous government assurances that such a prolonged contraction would not occur.
The report by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute is the latest downbeat economic news for Latin America's biggest economy, after recent statistics showed that unemployment has reached nine percent, the highest in two years.
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