Brazil economy headed for steep contraction: IMF

BRASÍLIA: The International Monetary Fund predicts a three percent shrinkage in Brazil's economy this year, with a further one percent in 2016, reflecting deepening trouble for Latin America's biggest country.

"In Brazil, business and consumer confidence continue to retreat in large part because of deteriorating political conditions, investment is declining rapidly, and the needed tightening in the macroeconomic policy stance is putting downward pressure on domestic demand," the IMF said in a global survey Tuesday.