Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, has fallen into technical recession after registering two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.

Official statistics show that Brazil's GDP shrank 1.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter and contracted 0.8 compared with the fourth.

The first-quarter result combined with the fourth quarter's 3.6 percent decline from the third quarter to push Brazil into the technical definition of a recession _ two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

Brazil's unemployment rate, meanwhile, reached a two-year high of nine percent.

To actively manage the crisis, Brazil has undertaken a series of macro-control measures and adopted stimulus plans in addition to seeking expanded cooperation with other nations such as China.

Government acts swiftly

There is no doubt Brazil moved swiftly to adjust the country's economic policies and ease the impact of the global slump.

Brazil's Central Bank has recently cut its basic annual interest rate (Selic) by one percentage point to 9.25 percent. The rate was 13.75 percent in January.

To stop the sharp depreciation of the real, which has lost more than 30 percent against the US dollar since the start of the crisis, the Central Bank sold millions of dollars in repurchase agreements or dollar swaps and increased the amount of money for lending.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in January signed a law creating a 14.2 billion reais (US$6.4 billion) sovereign wealth fund. Lula also granted tax breaks to banks, automakers, construction firms and airlines late last year.

Thanks to a cut in the industrialized products tax, Brazil's auto industry saw a recovery of production in the first quarter of 2009.

The tax cut triggered a record-high sale of 271,494 new vehicles in March, up 17 percent from the same period in 2008.

Car sales for the first quarter this year reached record-high levels as well, with 668,314 registered sales.

Brazil, aware of the agricultural sector's importance to the national economy, also has taken a series of measures to help farmers and agricultural enterprises.

It has encouraged banks to grant more loans to farmers and agricultural enterprises.

According to the Finance Ministry, the sector is expected to receive loans of at least 15.8 billion reais (US$6.79 billion) in 2009.