RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) increased 1.1 percent year-on-year to 6.8 trillion reals (about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the country's official statistics agency IBGE announced Thursday.
All three sectors of the economy expanded in 2018: Agriculture rose 0.1 percent, industry 0.6 percent and services 1.3 percent.
The GDP growth in 2018 was lower than forecast by the financial market and the central bank, which projected an expansion between 1.2 and 1.4 percent. At the beginning of last year, the expectation was close to 3 percent. However, the truckers' strike at the end of May that paralyzed the country, a weak labor market with high unemployment and the uncertainty of the presidential election in October reduced the forecasts.
According to the IBGE, households' consumption, one of the engines of the Brazilian economy, increased 1.9 percent in 2018, while government purchases remained stable. The per capita GDP rose 0.3 percent to 32,747 reals (about 8,732 U.S. dollars) in 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the GDP was up 0.1 percent compared to the third quarter and 1.1 percent year-on-year.
Although the growth in 2018 was less than expected, it consolidated the recovery of the country's economy, which experienced the worst recession between 2015 and 2016. For 2019, the financial market estimated that the economy will grow 2.48 percent, while for 2020, the projection is 2.65 percent.
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