Brazil’s Slow Development
Brazil, consisting of about 188 million people, has the ninth largest economy in the world at purchasing power parity as of 2006. Its GDP outweighs that of any other Latin American country. Because of their rapidly developing economy, Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest global investment banks, selected Brazil as one of the nations that will outshine most of the current richest countries of the world. The BRIC thesis argues that these developing countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will share world economic dominance by the year 2050. It is predicted that these countries combined will make up over 40% of the worlds population and hold a combined GDP (PPP) of nearly $15 trillion. The thesis forecasts that Brazil along with Russia will become the world’s largest supplier of raw materials. Brazil’s current major exports include among other things coffee, soybean, iron ore, steel, and textiles. However, in a recent study reported in The Economist, Brazil seems to be lagging behind the other three developing countries. Brazil’s GDP (PPP) per person in 1996 trailed behind Russia, India and China at 3.3% while the three developing countries as a whole have grown at an average of 7.3%.
According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, Brazil’s risk assessment in April 2007 is on average stable. A stable ‘sovereign risk’ (a rating of BB) means that while payment difficulties are not foreseen, there are concerns about the quality of the fiscal adjustment and about an increasing social security burden. A stable ‘currency risk’ (a rating of BBB) means that there is a risk of volatility in the event of global financial market turbulence. A stable ‘banking sector risk’ (a rating of BB) means that the steady, low-inflation GDP growth wil ...