Brazil first-quarter economy shrinks 0.3%, less than feared

Brazil's economy, which is grappling with political crisis and its worst recession in decades, shrank a less-than-feared 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016, the government statistics office said Wednesday. Economic output between January and March had been forecast by Itau Unibanco to fall by 0.8 percent. The year-on-year GDP shrinkage came to 5.4 percent -- below the 6.1 percent fall forecast by Itau, Brazil's leading private bank.