Brazil's economy enters worst recession on record

Latin America's largest economy Brazil has contracted by 3.6 percent in 2016, shrinking for the second year in a row; statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday. It confirmed the country is facing its longest and deepest recession in recorded history.

Data shows gross domestic product (GDP) fell for the eighth straight quarter in the three months to December, down 0.9 percent from the previous quarter. The figure was worse than the 0.5 percent decline economists had forecast and left the country's overall GDP down 3.6 percent for the full year following a 3.8 percent drop in 2015.

"In real terms, GDP is now nine percent below its pre-recession peak," Neil Shearing, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, told the Financial Times.

"This is comfortably the worst recession in recorded history," he added.

The two-year slump has seen...