Economy - overview Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries and is expanding its presence in world markets. The maintenance of large current account deficits via capital account surpluses became problematic as investors became more risk averse to emerging market exposure as a consequence of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the Russian bond default in August 1998. After crafting a fiscal adjustment program and pledging progress on structural reform, Brazil received a $41.5 billion IMF-led international support program in November 1998. In January 1999, the Brazilian Central Bank announced that the real would no longer be pegged to the US dollar. This devaluation helped moderate the downturn in economic growth in 1999 that investors had expressed concerns about over the summer of 1998, and the country posted moderate GDP growth. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001 - to less than 2% - because of a slowdown in major markets and the hiking of interest rates by the Central Bank to combat inflationary pressures. Investor confidence was strong at yearend 2001, in part because of the strong recovery in the trade balance.

GDP purchasing power parity - $1.34 trillion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 1.9% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $7,400 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 9%
industry: 32%
services: 59% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line 22% (1998 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 1%
highest 10%: 46.7% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 59.1 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 7.7% (2001)

Labor force 79 million (1999 est.)

Labor force - by occupation services 53%, agriculture 23%, industry 24%

Unemployment rate 6.4% (2001 est.)

Budget
revenues: $100.6 billion
expenditures: $91.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000)

Industries textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment

Industrial production growth rate 1% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 342.302 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 5.85%
other: 3.74% (2000)
hydro: 88.97%
nuclear: 1.44%

Electricity - consumption 360.641 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 42.3 billion kWh
note: supplied by Paraguay (2000)

Agriculture - products coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef

Exports $57.8 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities manufactures, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos

Exports - partners US 24.4%, Argentina 11.2%, Germany 8.7%, Japan 5.5%, Italy 3.9%, Netherlands (2001)

Imports $57.7 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports - commodities machinery and equipment, chemical products, oil, electricity, autos and auto parts

Imports - partners US 23.2%, Argentina 11.2%, Germany 8.7%, Japan 5.5%, Italy 3.9% (2001)

Debt - external $251 billion (2001)

Economic aid - recipient NA

Currency real (BRL)

Currency code BRL

Exchange rates reals per US dollar - 2.378 (January 2002), 2.358 (2001), 1.830 (2000), 1.815 (1999), 1.161 (1998), 1.078 (1997)
note: from October 1994 through 14 January 1999, the official rate was determined by a managed float; since 15 January 1999, the official rate floats independently with respect to the US dollar

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Brazil on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Brazil Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Brazil Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.