Economy Archives - BrazilWorks Archive

Economy

According to the Inter-American Development Bank, Over the last two decades, Brazil overcame a long period of inflation and implemented an effective macroeconomic management framework, based on fiscal responsibility and clear rules governing the relationships among the different levels of government, and on an inflation-targeting regime with a floating exchange rate. Poverty reduction policies, particularly the Bolsa Família program (PBF), have achieved significant results, lifting about 28 million Brazilians out of poverty and reducing the Gini income distribution coefficient from 0.59 to 0.54 between 2002 and 2009. In that period, economic growth attained a higher level (4.4% per year on average between 2004 and 2010), after over two decades of sluggish growth. With the international crisis of 2008-2009, the economy decelerated for two quarters, before recovering rapidly on the back of countercyclical policies, including a strong expansion of public credit. Inflationary pressures started to build as economic activity gathered pace, and this was aggravated by supply shocks and a readjustment in monitored prices in late 2010 and the first half of 2011. Since August 2011, the deteriorating global economic scenario has helped moderate inflationary expectations and led the central bank to embark on a new cycle of cuts in its base interest rate. For Brazil to take advantage of existing opportunities and continue the virtuous development of the last few years, many challenges need to be overcome. The level of infrastructure investment—which exhibits major deficits in the areas of transportation, logistics, energy, and sanitation, affecting the productivity of the economy as a whole—needs to continue rising on a sustainable basis, with greater private sector involvement, while also making it possible to strengthen regional integration. Long-term financing for public and private sector investments remains a problem to be resolved, along with the strengthening of an agenda to improve the business climate, productive and industrial development, promotion of science, technology, and innovation (ST&I), and an expansion of access to credit by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Economy News in Brazil

Infrastructure Investment in Northeastern Brazil

Infrastructure Investment in Northeastern Brazil Challenges and Opportunities in a Developing Region A BrazilWorks Briefing Paper Prepared by Chris Cote and Mark S. Langevin, Ph.D. Summary The Northeast region is growing faster than the national average due to a high…

BrazilWorks Research Associate Chris Cote

Chris Cote is the energy and economics research associate at BrazilWorks. He previously worked as a researcher with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the energy,…

U.S.-Brazil Trade and Investment Relationship: Opportunities and Challenges

On June 12, 2013 the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee (the subcommittee on Trade) held a hearing on the “U.S.-Brazil Trade and Investment Relationship: Opportunities and Challenges.” The hearing featured testimony from a variety of voices in…

Innovation and Venture Capital Policy in Brazil

Krista Tuomi and Lopo De Castro Neto (2013) provide an efficient description and comparison of the state of innovation policies in Brazil and South Africa to conclude, “South Africa and Brazil have the potential to become important world players in…

Narratives of Brazil-Africa Cooperation for Agricultural Development: New Paradigms?

Lídia Cabral and Alex Shankland of the Futures Agricultural Consortium (FAC) have released a concise descriptive and analytical treatment of Brazil’s expanding agricultural cooperation in Africa, “Narratives of Brazil-Africa Cooperation for Agricultural Development: New Paradigms?” This article is a must read…

The Brazilian Capital Goods Market: Recent Development and Future Prospects

Brazil is undergoing a rapid transformation from inward oriented national development to a fully globalized political economy whose government is quickly learning how to craft public policies to guarantee economic stability, growth, and an ever increasing list of private sector…

Presalt Oil Discoveries and the Long-Term Development of Brazil

Pablo Fajnzylber, Daniel Lederman, and Julia Oliver of the World Bank recently published, “Presalt Oil Discoveries and the Long-Term Development of Brazil,” a World Bank Economic Premise publication. Fajnzylber and his colleagues provide a concise overview of the growing importance…

Brazil and Transatlantic Relations

Earlier this month, Mark S. Langevin, Ph.D., Director of BrazilWorks published “Brazil, Energy and the Atlantic Basin Opportunity” in the pages of Altantic-Community.org, an open think tank. The piece was part of a larger effort to develop a series of…

Brazil and the BRICS

“BRICS AND AFRICA: PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT, INTEGRATION AND INDUSTRIALIZATION,” was the theme of the fifth BRICS summit, held in Durban, South Africa on March 26-27 2013. According to Presidency of Brazil, “With the Fifth Summit, BRICS completes its first cycle: each…

Brazil, Energy, and the Atlantic Basin Opportunity

Brazil, Energy, and the Atlantic Basin Opportunity by Mark S. Langevin Altantic-Community.org April 3, 2013 In its pursuit of energy security, Brazil struck a hydrocarbon bonanza with the offshore, ultra deep-water “pre-salt” reserves. The pre-salt discoveries promise to more than…