RIO DE JANEIRO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Minister of Finance Henrique Meirelles said on Wednesday that the government is seeking to lower its 2017 GDP expectations, currently at 0.5 percent, due to the current political crisis.
The government had previously reduced its prediction from 1 to 0.5 percent in April.
Speaking at a business forum in Sao Paulo, Meirelles admitted that the political crisis battering Brazil would have a negative impact on the economy. This crisis has been exacerbated this week after President Michel Temer was charged for corruption by the prosecutor-general at the Supreme Court.
The minister also reduced GDP growth expectations for the fourth quarter of 2017, knocking them from 2.7 to two percent.
According to a poll of the financial market issued Monday, the Brazilian economy is expected to grow at 0.39 percent in 2017. This would be the first positive result in three years, after the country saw a GDP contraction of 3.8 percent in 2015 and 3.6 percent in 2016.
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