Brazil saw 654,000 jobs lost in December as the global crisis hits Latin America’s larget economy. The countries worst affected sectors were industry, agriculture and construction.

With a population of 190 million, Brazil is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America,[10] the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world.

What sheds further light on the gravity of the situation is that Brazil is the world’s tenth largest economy at market exchange rates and the ninth largest in purchasing power. Such an economy going into distress is a bad situation for its trading partners. According to a recent article on Bloomberg.com, “Brazil抯 central bank will probably cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 16 months this week to bolster the economy.”

With firms like HSBC cutting jobs in the country, the trend looks like it will continue.