Brazilian Economy
Brazil’s economy is a moderate free market and is export oriented. When measured nominally, its gross domestic product is more than one trillion dollars, which ranks tenth in the whole world and second in the Americas. When Brazil’s purchasing power parity is measured it is almost two trillion dollars, which makes it the eighth largest economy in the world and the second largest in the Americas, following only the United States. The Brazilian currency is the Reais, and its gross domestic product in 2007 was estimated to be R$2.6.
Brazil is a member of a number of economic organizations like Mercosul, G8+5, SACN, G20, and Cairns Group. Brazil has hundreds of trade partners and eight percent of its exports are mostly manufactures or semi manufactured goods. Its main trade partners are European Union, which accounts for twenty-six percent of trade, Mercosur and Latin America, which account for twenty-five percent of trade, Asia, which accounts for sixteen percent of trade, the United States, which accounts for fourteen percent of trade, and the other entities which account for nineteen percent to trade.
Brazil is the owner of a sophisticated technological sector and develops projects that range from submarines to aircraft. Brazil is also involved with space research, they possess a satellite launching center and is the only country in the Southern Hemisphere to integrate the team responsible for the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). Brazil is a pioneer in many fields including that of ethanol production.
Another industry that Brazil has been a pioneer in is the field of deep water oil research. It is here that Brazil extracts seventy-three percent of its reserves. Government statistics claim that Brazil was the first capitalist country to bring together the ten largest car assembly companies within its national boundaries.
The service sector of Brazil’s economy is the largest component of gross domestic product at nearly sixty-seven percent, and tit is followed by the industrial sector which accounts for thirty percent of gross domestic product, according to a 2007 estimate. Agricultures accounts for only three and a half percent of gross domestic product. The Brazilian labor force is estimated to contain more that one hundred million people. Ten percent of this labor force is occupied in agriculture, another nineteen percent in the industry sector, and seventy-one percent in the service sector.
Brazil was only discovered in 1500, and it was only in 1808 that the Portuguese colonial government permitted them to set up their first factories and manufacturers. Thus it is a formidable feat that is has reached the status of the eight largest economies in the world. The period of the greatest economic transformation and growth occurred between 1875 and 1975. In the last decade alone, domestic production has increased by thirty-two percent and the agricultural industry grew by forty-seven percent, making it the most dynamic sector, even though it weathered an international crisis that demanded constant adjustments to the Brazilian economy.