Brazil's industrial output rises 0.4 percent in January

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Industrial production in Brazil rose 0.4 percent in January from December , ending seven straight months of declines that contributed to an 8.3 percent plunge in activity over 2015, government statistics agency IBGE said on Friday.

The median estimate in a Reuters poll projected a decline of 0.5 percent.

Production in January, however, retreated 13.8 percent from a year earlier .

Manufacturers and miners cut nearly one-fifth of their production since a 2013 peak after Brazil fell into a deep recession. Economists in a weekly central bank poll expect industrial output to drop 4 percent this year.

Latin America's largest economy nosedived after a ballooning budget deficit prompted President Dilma Rousseff and the central bank to raise taxes, cut spending and raise interest rates last year.

The economy has also suffered because of a massive corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras . Executives from top construction and engineering companies are under investigation or in jail.

Petrobras, one of Brazil's largest companies, is also struggling with a drop in global oil prices.

(Reporting by Reese Ewing; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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