Brazil's Central Bank on Friday lowered the projection for the country's GDP growth this year from 1.2 percent to 0.8 percent, Xinhua reported.
According to the Central Bank, the cut in the projection reflects a slower-than-expected recovery of Brazil's economic activity.
The Central Bank also decided to increase its projection for this year's inflation rate from 4 percent to 4.1 percent. Despite the slight increase, the rate is still below the 4.5 percent inflation target set by the government for 2009 and 2010.
For the next year, the Central Bank cut the inflation projection from 4 percent to 3.9 percent.
The Brazilian industry will contract by 2.2 percent, the Central Bank said. In its previous projection, the bank said the country's industrial sector would expand by 0.1 percent.
The agricultural sector will shrink by 0.8 percent in 2009, up from 0.1 percent in the previous projection. The service sector, on the other hand, will expand by 2.1 percent, up from 1.7 percent in the previous projection.
The Central Bank said the Brazilian economy may already have emerged from the recession, adding the country is expected to register a strong growth rate in the next six months.
However, the Central Bank's expectations contrast with those of Brazilian economists.
A survey released Monday showed that economists expected the Brazilian economy to shrink by 0.57 percent in 2009. For 2010, they projected a 3.5 percent growth for the country.