RIO DE JANEIRO, Industrial output in Brazil plunged 9.1 per cent in March because of lockdown measures imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America’s largest economy, the government reported today.

That decline was from the previous month, and compared to March 2019 the fall in industrial production was 3.8 per cent, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics said.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly railed against lockdowns imposed by state governors, saying they are destroying jobs.

More than 7,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Brazil and experts say the peak of the outbreak here is still weeks away. — AFP