Brazil

Economic indicators

Brazil is the 10th world economic power with a GDP of more than a thousand billion dollars in 2007. Fiscal and monetary policies, implemented cautiously by President Lula, together with the necessary microeconomic reforms (which have continued since his new term of office began in January 2007) have restored confidence in the market. However, strict fiscal discipline and restrictive budgetary policies will not allow the government to act according to an ambitious agenda, and this will limit growth. The rate of growth of GDP which, since a methodological reappraisal, was at 2.9% in 2005 climbed back to 3.7% in 2006. It reached 4.1% in 2007 (according to IMF estimations). For all international observers, the Brazilian economy is in clear progression and less and less vulnerable. The unemployment rate has been affected, going from more than 12% in 2002 to 8.5% in 2008. The Brazilian government's debt (mainly domestic) is still high, however, about 45% of GDP. Thanks to a commercial surplus since then, the total amount of reserves equals that of foreign debt at the level of 190 billion dollars.The consumer price index rose to 4.4% in 2007, after falling to 3.2% in 2006. It equals the target rate of the central bank, which expects a similar rate in 2008.

Main sectors of industry

Brazil has abundant natural resources and its economy is relatively diversified. It is a great agricultural power: the leading world producer of coffee, sugar cane and oranges, a leading producer of soya and it attracts many world groups in agri-food and biofuels. Agriculture contributes 8% to GDP (30% if you include the agri-food sector) and 40% to Brazilian exports. Brazil has the largest commercial herd of livestock in the world (50% larger than that of the United States). Forests cover half the country, with the largest tropical rainforest in the world situated in the Amazon Basin. As a great industrial country, Brazil benefits from its mineral ore wealth; it is the second world exporter of iron and one of the main producers of aluminum. The country is asserting itself more and more in the sectors of textile, aeronautics, pharmacy, automobiles, iron and steel and the chemical industry. Most of the large automobile manufacturers have set up their production plants in the country. The industrial sector contributes almost 37% to GDP, while the tertiary sector represents about 52%.

Source: World Bank - World Development Indicators - last available data.

Sources of economic information

Ministries

Ministry of Agriculture and Reserves (MA)Ministry of Foreign Relations (MRE)Institute for Mine development (INDI)Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign TradeMinistry of the Economy (Fazenda)

Statistical Office

Brazilian statistics institute

Central Bank

Central Bank

Stock Exchange

Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange
São Paulo Stock Exchange

Online newspapers

Folha de São Paulo
Estado de São Paulo
Jornal do Brasil
On-line economic journal
Jornal do Commercio

Search Engines

Yahoo! Brazil
Aonde
Achei
Lycos Brazil
MSN Search Brazil
RadarUOL
Altavista
Terra

Political outline

Executive Power

The president is both Head of State and Head of the Government; he holds executive power. He (and the vice-president) is elected by universal suffrage for a four year term. He appoints the Council of Ministers.

Legislative Power

The legislative power is bicameral. The parliament, called National Congress, is made up of two houses: the Senate (upper house), which has 81 members (3 members for each of the 26 provinces and for the federal district, elected according to the majority principle, for an 8 year term) ; and the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), which has 513 seats (and whose members are elected by proportional representation for a four year term). Each of the 26 States, and the federal district of Brazilia, has a separate legislature and administration. Brazilians enjoy considerable political rights.

Main political parties

Fifteen political parties are represented in the National Congress. As it frequently happens that a politician changes parties, the proportion of seats of a given party in Congress changes regularly. The main political parties are as follows:
- The PT (Workers' Party, center-left)
- The PFL (Liberal Front Party, right-wing)
- The PMDB(Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, center)
- The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party, center-left)
- The PCdoB ( Brazilian Communist Party, left-wing)

Current political leaders

President : Luiz Inacio LULA DA SILVA (since 1 January 2003) – PT, leading a coalition government
Vice President : Jose ALENCAR (since 1 January 2003) - PT

Next election dates

Presidential and legislative elections: October 2010
Senate : October 2010 (for 1/3 of the members)

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