BRASILIA, May 28 (Reuters) - Brazil's economy created a net 85,888 formal jobs in April, data from the Labor Ministry showed on Thursday, well below the 230,000 net openings expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

o The net figure accounts for 2,268,655 jobs opened and 2,182,767 closed during the period, the ministry said.

o Job creation was the slowest for any month so far this year and marked the weakest April performance since 2020.

o From January to April, a net of 699,762 formal jobs were created in Brazil, an about 23% decline year-over-year.

(Reporting by Bernardo Caram; Writing by Fernando Cardoso, Editing by Iñigo Alexander and Natalia Siniawski)