Brazilian President Michel Temer plans to unveil on Thursday fresh measures to ease the pain of consumers and businesses struggling with the country's worst recession on record amid growing popular discontent.

Although limited in scope, government officials said the measures aim to appease Brazilians angry at the deepening recession in Latin America's biggest economy and allegations of corruption against Temer and some of his closest allies.

Local media has reported the government plans to write-off some of the taxes owed by companies reporting losses and allow workers to use part of their severance fund, known as FGTS, to abate their debts.

Other microeconomic measures could include the extension of a government-funded program to help companies maintain the size of their workforce and a reduction in the time banks and credit card companies have to process payments made to businesses.

With the country's finances in tatters, Temer has ruled out direct fiscal stimulus in his bid to ease the debt burden of Brazilians as the recession, now finishing its second year, trims millions of jobs and forces droves of companies into bankruptcy.

Since he formally took office in August, Temer has faced pressure from business groups and political allies to swap austerity measures for policies aimed at jump-starting growth.

Economic activity fell 0.48 percent in October, the eighth drop in 10 months, official data showed earlier on Thursday, dashing hopes of an imminent recovery despite a jump in confidence after the impeachment of Temer's leftist predecessor Dilma Rousseff.

The sluggish recovery and corruption allegations threaten to derail Temer's austerity plan to plug a widening budget deficit that has cost the once-booming Brazil its investment grade credit rating.

Reuters