The global financial and economic crisis had a clear impact on Brazil's industrial production, which fell by 16.7 per cent October-March, reported dpa. The Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said Tuesday that this was the worst such drop since 1990, when industrial production fell by 19.8 per cent over a similar period. According to the IBGE, industrial production rose on January, February and March in relation to the previous month. However, in March it was 10 per cent below its level of March 2008. January-March, Brazil's industrial production fell by 14.7 per cent in relation to the same period of 2008, in its worst quarterly result since the first term of 1991, when it fell 15.2 per cent. The car industry - considered the engine of the Brazilian economy - contracted by 27.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, in relation to the same period last year. However, the IBGE noted that there were indications that the economy had started to recover. The drop in industrial production over a shorter period, October-February, amounted to 18 per cent. It was the car industry that commanded the recent recovery, with a rise of 7 per cent in March in relation to February. However, the improvement had not yet reached capital good in March, and the sector showed a contraction of 6.3 per cent.
