Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 1.9 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, putting the country into technical recession.

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics also revised on Friday the first-quarter GDP to a 0.7-percent decrease from the previous three months, down from a decline of 0.2 percent. Many economists take the view that a nation enters into technical recession if its economy contracts in two consecutive quarters.

News agency Reuters reported gross fixed investment in Brazil fell 8.1 percent in the second quarter, its eighth quarter of decline. Household consumption fell the most since 2001 – by 2.1 percent – due to rising unemployment and high inflation, according to the report.

In a year-on-year comparison, the Brazilian economy contracted 2.6 percent in the April to June period.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has dismissed the idea there was a growing financial crisis in the nation. “Brazil is a strong country that will grow, will overcome the difficulties, which are momentary,” she said last week at a public event, as quoted by news agency AFP.