Sao Paulo – Brazil’s economy posted higher-than-expected growth of 1.2 percent in the second quarter, official data showed Thursday, giving President Jair Bolsonaro a boost ahead of elections next month. The result beat analyst expectations for 0.9 percent growth in Latin America’s largest economy. This latest spurt of growth was fueled by rises in manufacturing (up 2.2 percent) and the service sector (1.3 percent), the state statistics agency IBGE said. Compared to the second quarter of last year, the expansion was 3.2 percent. Brazil ended 2021 with 4.6 percent growth compared to the previous year, when the economy shrank by 3.9 percent due to the pandemic.
