Economy achieves highest growth in 25 years

4th March 2011

GDP figures for 2010 show Brazil has achieved the highest economic growth in 25 years and could place the country among the world's top five economies.

According to numbers released yesterday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the GDP at the Latin American powerhouse increased 7.5% last year, or R$ 3.67tr ($2.2tr), a record high since 1986.

Sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing industries played a large role in the increase, with yearly growth reaching 6.5% and 10.1% respectively.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega was quoted as saying that that further revision in World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures could position the country as the world's fifth largest economy, ahead of the UK and Italy.

Economic indicators recently seen in other developed nations pale in comparison: the US economy posted a rise in GDP figures for 2010 of only 2.9%, while Germany achieved 3.6% and Japan, 3.9%.

Other countries have seen barely any growth: Italy is an example, where GDP saw a 1.1% increase. Some, like Spain, have not seen growth at all and Greece posted a negative rate of -4.5%.

Among the Bric economies, Brazil ranked third, behind India, where growth reached 8.6% and China, where GDP figures rose by 10.3%. Russia had the poorest result, with a 3.8% increase.

The news of the rise in Brazil's GDP coincide with the visit of IMF's director-general Dominique Strauss-Kahn to president Dilma Rousseff and finance minister Mantega yesterday.

Analysts expect that GDP growth in Brazil will reach approximately 4-5% in 2011.

Source: Itdecs