The post-recession financial landscape in Brazil
While no country emerged from the global economic crisis unscathed, some nations fared better than others.
Brazil is one such country. Words currently being use to describe the economy include robust and resilient, which is in stark contrast to the UK where the phrase "double-dip recession" appears almost daily in the newspapers.
Brazil’s economy: An overview
The economy in Brazil is mainly built on the agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service industries. It also has a strong tourism sector, with 7.2 million foreign visitors in 2008 and a projected 9.2 million tourist arrivals by 2014.
According to the CIA World Fact Book, "Brazil’s economy outweighs that of all other South American countries and Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets".
This strength meant that it experienced just two quarters of recession, returning to growth in the second quarter of 2009.
Significant investment is also expected to pour into the country in coming years at it prepares to host the football World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. This investment is also expected to increase the price of property in Brazil.
How did Brazil perform during the recession?
Earlier this month, the Brazilian government said it only experienced a "moderate decline" during 2009.
Real gross domestic product (GDP), the country’s output adjusted for inflation, was down by just 0.2 per cent. In the final quarter of 2009 GDP grew two per cent on the previous three months.
Finance minister Guido Mantega said that these figures show the country "weathered the storm better than most".
"Both our fourth quarter and full year GDP performance show that Brazil, despite the difficult economic environment throughout 2009, successfully recovered from the global financial crisis," Mr Mantega explained.
He added: "We are already seeing strong indications of economic growth for the year ahead and expect at least five per cent growth in 2010."
The rise in GDP during the fourth quarter of 2009 was attributed to "the recovery of private investment and increased consumption".
According to the FT Advisor, many of the countries outside of the G7, which includes Brazil, are expected to see their growth return to a "pre-crisis positive trend within the next 12 months".
Reduction of measures to stimulate economy
In light of Brazil’s encouraging economic performance, the government and the country’s central bank are already talking about reducing the measures put in place to cushion the nation against the effects of the economic crisis.
Reuters reported that the central bank recently increased the reserve requirements for the country’s commercial banks.
This, among other measures, is expected to reign in 71 billion Reais (approximately £26 billion) from the economy, which is most of the 100 billion Reais that was injected into the country’s financial system during the recession to increase its liquidity.
The news agency said that the success of the monetary policy measures put in place by authorities in the country were a large factor in Brazil’s early economic recovery.
There has also been growing speculation that the central bank may raise the country’s interest rate, known as the Selic, as early as April 2010 to ensure growth in the economy remains stable. It currently sits at a historic low of 8.75 per cent.
Reuters reported that the bank’s monetary policymakers decided to leave the rate unchanged in March.
"The committee will carefully monitor the development of the macroeconomic outlook until its next meeting, to then define the next steps of its monetary policy strategy," the bank said in a statement.
All these measures would suggest that the authorities in Brazil firmly believe that the economy is getting back on track.
