Zika virus turning Games into an Olympic battle for beleaguered Brazil

IT'S less than two months before the 2016 Summer Olympics is scheduled to open in Rio de Janeiro, and the host country remains embroiled in turmoil like no other (outside those mired in war-torn strife), with the Games possibly in jeopardy.

Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, has been suspended for improper use of budgetary procedures to bolster her 2014 re-election campaign and faces an impeachment trial. Now, key senior figures behind the push to oust her from power, from the new interim president's party, are themselves being implicated in a graft probe. The debilitating political crisis - which began with the country's biggest corruption scandal, around state-run energy company Petrobras - has meanwhile deflected attention away from what's arguably an even bigger quandary: an economy in free fall.

Erstwhile in the spotlight for its demographic and economic potential as a member of the select BRICS group of large developing countries, Brazil - Latin America's biggest economy - is now in the throes of what could be its worst recession ever. Following a 3.8 per cent fall in GDP in 2015, the sharp contraction is set to continue this year and next, with investment down and domestic demand expected to remain weak for the foreseeable future. Unemployment has reached record highs and more than 11 million Brazilians are out of work, while inflation has crossed 10 per cent, well past the central bank target.