Brazilian Foreign Minister Guido Mantega admitted for the first time that Brazil's economic growth will likely fall in the 0-2 per cent range in 2009, dpa quoted Brazilian media as reporting today. The Brazilian government has not admitted the possibility that gross domestic product (GDP) might contract this year amid the global financial and economic crisis. Previously it had estimated growth at 2 per cent, while the Brazilian Central Bank put it at 1.2 per cent. "The first quarter (of 2009) was very bad. The second will bring a restart (of growth) with GDP accelerating. Not much, but it's going to go up. The third will be even stronger and the fourth we will close with a very good rise. I think we will close the year with close to 0-2 per cent growth," Mantega said. He noted that Brazil "is already out of the bottom of the pool," although this year's high volatility makes it difficult to make estimates. Planning Minister Paulo Bernardo admitted that "perhaps" the government should revise its growth goals. "We should not forget that most countries are going to close (the year) with four points of negative growth," Bernardo said. The Brazilian financial sector is a lot more pessimistic. The daily Folha de Sao Paulo reported Friday that most Brazilian market analysts estimate that the GDP of the world's 10th-largest economy is set to contract by 0.44 per cent.