Economy
Brazil’s economy has a free and exporter market. Measured by purchasing power parity, Brazil’s GNP is around US$2 trillion (R$2,817.9 billion) what made it the ninth biggest economy in the world in 2008 according to the IMF and the tenth biggest economy according to the World Bank. Brazil is the second largest economy in the Americas, behind only the USA.
Brazil is member of many economic organizations, such as Mercosur, UNASUL, G8+5, G20 and the Cairns Group.
Brazil’s number of trading partners is in the hundreds, with 60% of exports being mainly manufactured goods and semi-manufactured. The main trade partners of Brazil in 2008 were: Mercosur and Latin America (25.9% of trade), European Union (23.4%), Asia (18.9%), United States (14.0%) and other (17.8%).
According to the World Economic Forum, Brazil was the country that improved the most in competitiveness in 2009, winning eight positions among other countries, ahead of Russia for the first time and partially closing the competitive gap with India and China, the other BRIC economies. Important steps taken since the 1990s to fiscal sustainability, as well as measures taken to liberalize and open up the economy have significantly boosted the fundamentals of the country’s competitiveness, providing a better environment for the private sector development.
Technology
Owner of a sophisticated technological sector, Brazil develops projects that range from submarines to aircraft and is involved in space research: the country has a satellite launch center and was the only country in the Southern Hemisphere to integrate the team responsible for building the International Space Station (ISS) station. It is also the pioneer in many other economic fields, including ethanol production.
Along with Mexico, Brazil has been at the forefront of the Latin American multinationals phenomenon, which thanks to superior technology and organization have become a worldwide success. These multinationals have made this transition by massively investing abroad, in their geographic region and beyond, and thus obtaining an increasing portion of its revenues internationally.
Brazil is also a pioneer in the fields of oil in deep waters research, where 73% of its petrol reserves are extracted. According to government statistics, Brazil was the first capitalist country to have the ten largest car assembly companies in its territory.
Highest GDP Brazilian Cities
The cities with the highest GDP in Brazil are sprad throughout the country, and from the five highest GDP cities, 3 are located in the southeast reagion of Brazil. The top 5 cities are : São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Manaus and Belo Horizonte.
Curiosities about Brazil
Brazil is a country with many individualities in each region, sometimes seeming even like different countries within a country and some rules help to better understand and live within this great country.
- Slums / Favelas – this large urban agglomerations phenomenon, that have precarious housing conditions and lack of regulation and public services (drinking water, sewage, schools, health centers, among others) are not only found in Brazil, but the great slums of Brazil (mainly São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) are tourist spots for foreigners from developed countries.
- Even though the Portuguese language descended from the Portuguese Lusitano (Portugal) it has had so many variations in Brazil that it is nowadays almost a separate language. (The Portuguese is the 8th most spoken language in the world).
- Using of the railroad road system for human transportation among cities is currently inexistent in Brazil.
- During the government of Juscelino Kubitschek, guided by the Target Plan, Brasilia was built and became the new capital of the country, being inaugurated on April 21st, 1960, until then, the national capital was Rio de Janeiro.
- The helicopter traffic in Sao Paulo is the third largest in the world.
- Brazil will host two major sports events in the coming years: the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.
Source: wikipedia
