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About Brazil
General informations
Brazilian Flag
Capital: Brasília (15°45'S, 47°57'W)
Largest city: São Paulo
Official languages: Portuguese
Ntionality noun: Brazilian
Adjective: Brazilian
Government: Presidential Federal republic
_______________________________________________________________________
Characterized by 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. Having weathered 2001-03 financial turmoil, capital inflows are regaining strength and the currency has resumed appreciating. The appreciation has slowed export volume growth, but since 2004, Brazil's growth has yielded increases in employment and real wages. The resilience in the economy stems from commodity- driven current account surpluses, and sound macroeconomic policies that have bolstered international reserves to historically high levels, reduced public debt, and allowed a significant decline in real interest rates. A floating exchange rate, an inflation-targeting regime, and a tight fiscal policy are the three pillars of the economic program. From 2003 to 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses and recorded its first current account surpluses since 1992. Productivity gains coupled with high commodity prices contributed to the surge in exports. Brazil improved its debt profile in 2006 by shifting its debt burden toward real denominated and domestically held instruments. Investment (gross fixed): 17.6% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $244 billion
expenditures: $219.9 billion (FY07)
Agriculture - products:
coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus, beef
Industries:
textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment
Industrial production growth rate: 4.9% (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities: transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos
Exports - partners: US 17.8%, Argentina 8.5%, China 6.1%, Netherlands 4.2%, Germany 4.1% (2006)
_______________________________________________________________________
Brazilian Law is based on Roman-Germanic traditions. Thus, civil law concepts prevail over common law practices. Most of Brazilian law is codified, although non-codified statutes also represent a substantial part of the system, playing a complementary role. Court decisions set out interpretation guidelines; however, they are not binding towards other specific cases but in very few exceptional situations. Doctrinal works and comments of legal academic pundits have strong influence in law creation and in legal cases.
The Federal Constitution, promulgated on October 5, 1988, is the fundamental law of Brazil and it rules the system. All other legislation and court decisions must conform to its rules. As of April 2007, it has been through 53 Amendments. States also adopt their own Constitutions, but they must also not contradict the Federal Constitution. Municipalities and the Federal District do not have their own Constitutions; instead, they adopt "organic laws" (leis orgânicas). Legislative entities are the main source of statutes, although in certain matters judiciary and executive bodies may also enact legal norms.
Jurisdiction is administered by the judiciary entities, although in rare cases, the Federal Constitution allows the Federal Senate to pass on legal judgments. There are also specialized military, labor, and electoral courts. The highest court is the Supreme Federal Tribunal. This system has met criticism over the last decades in relation to the slow pace at which final decisions are issued. Lawsuits on appeal may take several years to resolve, and in some cases more than a decade to see definitive rulings.
_______________________________________________________________________
Foreign Relations Ministery (Ministerio das Relacoes Exteriores) - Brasilia - DF
_______________________________________________________________________
Port of Santos
Brazil's GDP (PPP) is the highest of Latin America with large and developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, as well as a large labour pool. The country has been expanding its presence in international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment. According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP) and tenth largest at market exchange rates. Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in development levels. Most large industry is agglomerated in the Southern and South East states. The Northeast is the poorest region of Brazil, but it has attracted new investments in infrastructure for the tourism sector and intensive agricultural schemes.
Brazil had pegged its currency, the real, to the U.S. dollar in 1994. However, after the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian default in 1998 and the series of adverse financial events that followed it, the Brazilian central bank has temporarily changed its monetary policy to a managed-float scheme while undergoing a currency crisis, until definitively changing the exchange regime to free-float in January 1999. Brazil received an IMF rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of USD 30.4 billion, a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006).
Brazil has a diverse and sophisticated service industry as well. During the early 1990s, the banking sector amounted to as much as 16% of GDP, and has attracted foreign financial institutions and firms by issuing and trading Brazilian Depositary Receipts (BDRs). One of the issues the Brazilian central bank is currently dealing with is the excess of speculative short-term capital inflows to the country in the past few months, which might explain in part the recent downfall of the U.S. dollar against the real in the period. Nonetheless, foreign direct investment (FDI), related to long-term, less speculative investment in production, is estimated to be USD 193.8bn for 2007. Inflation monitoring and control currently plays a major role in Brazil's Central Bank activity in setting out short-term interest rates as a monetary policy measure. The IPCA index, measured and calculated by the IBGE on a monthly basis, is the most commonly used index for inflation, although other indices such as the IPC-Fipe and IGP-M (FGV) are also widely used.
_______________________________________________________________________
Brazil is the 10th largest energy consumer in the world and the largest in Latin America. At the same time it is also a large oil and gas producer in the region and the world's largest ethanol producer. Because of its ethanol fuel production Brazil has been sometimes described as a bio-energy superpower. Brazil's ethanol fuel is produced from sugar cane, the world's largest crop in both production and export tonnage.
With the 1973 oil crisis the Brazilian government initiated in 1975 the Pró-Álcool program. The Pró-Álcool or Programa Nacional do Álcool (National Alcohol Program) was a nation-wide program financed by the government to replace automobile fuels derived from fossil fuels in favor of ethanol. The program successfully reduced the number of cars running on gasoline in Brazil by 10 million, thereby reducing the country's dependence on oil imports. Brazil's production and consumption of biodiesel relative to its energy matrix is expected to reach to 2% of diesel fuel in 2008 and 5% in 2013. Brazil is the third largest hydroelectricity producer in the world after China and Canada. In 2004 hydropower accounted 83% of Brazil power production. The gross theoretical capability exceeds 3,000 TWh per annum, of which 800 TWh per annum is economically exploitable. Also in 2004, Brazil produced 321TWh of hydropower, which was the third largest hydropower production in the world. The installed capacity is 69 GW. Brazil co-owns Itaipu hydroelectric power plant on the Paraná River which is the world largest hydroelectric power plant by energy generation with the installed generation capacity of 14 GW by 20 generating units of 700 MW each.
_______________________________________________________________________
Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes. Despite governmental regulations and incentives, investment in research and development has been growing in private universities and companies as well since the 1990s. Nonetheless, more than 73% of funding for basic research still comes from governmental sources. Some of Brazil's most notables technological hubs are the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Air Force's Aerospace Technical Center, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the INPE. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is a search unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), whose main goals lie in fostering scientific research and technological applications and in qualifying personnel in the fields of Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Applications, Space Engineering and Space Technology. While INPE is the civilian research center for aerospace activities, the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology is the research military arm.
Brazilian information technology is comparable in quality and positioning to those of India and China, though because of Brazil's larger internal market, software exports are limited. Catering for the internal market, Brazilian IT is particularly efficient in providing solutions to financial services, defense, CRM, eGovernment, and healthcare. The Brazilian government as an institution has plans to switch its operating systems, replacing the current proprietary software scheme for the free software scheme.
_______________________________________________________________________
Catedral de Brasilia - DF
(Cathedral of Brasilia - DF)
Current account balance: $3.555 billion (2007 est.)
Exports: $160.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports: $120.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $180.3 billion (12/31/07)
Stock of direct foreign investment-at home: $249 billion (2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment -abroad: $107 billion (2007 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares: $711.1 billion (2006)
Natural resources: bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber
|
Brazilian Flag
Capital: Brasília (15°45'S, 47°57'W)
Largest city: São Paulo
Official languages: Portuguese
Ntionality noun: Brazilian
Adjective: Brazilian
Government: Presidential Federal republic
Economic Considerations
Characterized by 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. Having weathered 2001-03 financial turmoil, capital inflows are regaining strength and the currency has resumed appreciating. The appreciation has slowed export volume growth, but since 2004, Brazil's growth has yielded increases in employment and real wages. The resilience in the economy stems from commodity- driven current account surpluses, and sound macroeconomic policies that have bolstered international reserves to historically high levels, reduced public debt, and allowed a significant decline in real interest rates. A floating exchange rate, an inflation-targeting regime, and a tight fiscal policy are the three pillars of the economic program. From 2003 to 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses and recorded its first current account surpluses since 1992. Productivity gains coupled with high commodity prices contributed to the surge in exports. Brazil improved its debt profile in 2006 by shifting its debt burden toward real denominated and domestically held instruments. Investment (gross fixed): 17.6% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $244 billion
expenditures: $219.9 billion (FY07)
Agriculture - products:
coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus, beef
Industries:
textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment
Industrial production growth rate: 4.9% (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities: transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos
Exports - partners: US 17.8%, Argentina 8.5%, China 6.1%, Netherlands 4.2%, Germany 4.1% (2006)
Politics and Government
The Brazilian Federation is based on the indissoluble association of three autonomous political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District. A fourth entity originated in the aforementioned association: the Union. There is no hierarchy among the political entities. The Federation is set on six fundamental principles: sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of the people, social value of labor, freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism. The classic tripartite division of power, encompassing the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches under the checks and balances system, is formally established by the Constitution. The Executive and Legislative are organized independently in all four political entities, while the Judiciary is organized only in the Federal and State levels.
The Brazilian Federation is based on the indissoluble association of three autonomous political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District. A fourth entity originated in the aforementioned association: the Union. There is no hierarchy among the political entities. The Federation is set on six fundamental principles: sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of the people, social value of labor, freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism. The classic tripartite division of power, encompassing the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches under the checks and balances system, is formally established by the Constitution. The Executive and Legislative are organized independently in all four political entities, while the Judiciary is organized only in the Federal and State levels.
Law
Brazilian Law is based on Roman-Germanic traditions. Thus, civil law concepts prevail over common law practices. Most of Brazilian law is codified, although non-codified statutes also represent a substantial part of the system, playing a complementary role. Court decisions set out interpretation guidelines; however, they are not binding towards other specific cases but in very few exceptional situations. Doctrinal works and comments of legal academic pundits have strong influence in law creation and in legal cases.
The Federal Constitution, promulgated on October 5, 1988, is the fundamental law of Brazil and it rules the system. All other legislation and court decisions must conform to its rules. As of April 2007, it has been through 53 Amendments. States also adopt their own Constitutions, but they must also not contradict the Federal Constitution. Municipalities and the Federal District do not have their own Constitutions; instead, they adopt "organic laws" (leis orgânicas). Legislative entities are the main source of statutes, although in certain matters judiciary and executive bodies may also enact legal norms.
Jurisdiction is administered by the judiciary entities, although in rare cases, the Federal Constitution allows the Federal Senate to pass on legal judgments. There are also specialized military, labor, and electoral courts. The highest court is the Supreme Federal Tribunal. This system has met criticism over the last decades in relation to the slow pace at which final decisions are issued. Lawsuits on appeal may take several years to resolve, and in some cases more than a decade to see definitive rulings.
Environment - international agreements: party to: Antarctic- Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change- Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling.
International organization participation: AfDB, BIS, CAN (associate), CPLP, CSN, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
International organization participation: AfDB, BIS, CAN (associate), CPLP, CSN, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur, MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Foreign Relations Ministery (Ministerio das Relacoes Exteriores) - Brasilia - DF
Port of Santos
Economy
Brazil's GDP (PPP) is the highest of Latin America with large and developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, as well as a large labour pool. The country has been expanding its presence in international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment. According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP) and tenth largest at market exchange rates. Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in development levels. Most large industry is agglomerated in the Southern and South East states. The Northeast is the poorest region of Brazil, but it has attracted new investments in infrastructure for the tourism sector and intensive agricultural schemes.
Brazil had pegged its currency, the real, to the U.S. dollar in 1994. However, after the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian default in 1998 and the series of adverse financial events that followed it, the Brazilian central bank has temporarily changed its monetary policy to a managed-float scheme while undergoing a currency crisis, until definitively changing the exchange regime to free-float in January 1999. Brazil received an IMF rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of USD 30.4 billion, a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006).
Brazil has a diverse and sophisticated service industry as well. During the early 1990s, the banking sector amounted to as much as 16% of GDP, and has attracted foreign financial institutions and firms by issuing and trading Brazilian Depositary Receipts (BDRs). One of the issues the Brazilian central bank is currently dealing with is the excess of speculative short-term capital inflows to the country in the past few months, which might explain in part the recent downfall of the U.S. dollar against the real in the period. Nonetheless, foreign direct investment (FDI), related to long-term, less speculative investment in production, is estimated to be USD 193.8bn for 2007. Inflation monitoring and control currently plays a major role in Brazil's Central Bank activity in setting out short-term interest rates as a monetary policy measure. The IPCA index, measured and calculated by the IBGE on a monthly basis, is the most commonly used index for inflation, although other indices such as the IPC-Fipe and IGP-M (FGV) are also widely used.
Energy policy
Brazil is the 10th largest energy consumer in the world and the largest in Latin America. At the same time it is also a large oil and gas producer in the region and the world's largest ethanol producer. Because of its ethanol fuel production Brazil has been sometimes described as a bio-energy superpower. Brazil's ethanol fuel is produced from sugar cane, the world's largest crop in both production and export tonnage.
With the 1973 oil crisis the Brazilian government initiated in 1975 the Pró-Álcool program. The Pró-Álcool or Programa Nacional do Álcool (National Alcohol Program) was a nation-wide program financed by the government to replace automobile fuels derived from fossil fuels in favor of ethanol. The program successfully reduced the number of cars running on gasoline in Brazil by 10 million, thereby reducing the country's dependence on oil imports. Brazil's production and consumption of biodiesel relative to its energy matrix is expected to reach to 2% of diesel fuel in 2008 and 5% in 2013. Brazil is the third largest hydroelectricity producer in the world after China and Canada. In 2004 hydropower accounted 83% of Brazil power production. The gross theoretical capability exceeds 3,000 TWh per annum, of which 800 TWh per annum is economically exploitable. Also in 2004, Brazil produced 321TWh of hydropower, which was the third largest hydropower production in the world. The installed capacity is 69 GW. Brazil co-owns Itaipu hydroelectric power plant on the Paraná River which is the world largest hydroelectric power plant by energy generation with the installed generation capacity of 14 GW by 20 generating units of 700 MW each.
Science and technology
Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes. Despite governmental regulations and incentives, investment in research and development has been growing in private universities and companies as well since the 1990s. Nonetheless, more than 73% of funding for basic research still comes from governmental sources. Some of Brazil's most notables technological hubs are the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Air Force's Aerospace Technical Center, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the INPE. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is a search unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), whose main goals lie in fostering scientific research and technological applications and in qualifying personnel in the fields of Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Applications, Space Engineering and Space Technology. While INPE is the civilian research center for aerospace activities, the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology is the research military arm.
Brazilian information technology is comparable in quality and positioning to those of India and China, though because of Brazil's larger internal market, software exports are limited. Catering for the internal market, Brazilian IT is particularly efficient in providing solutions to financial services, defense, CRM, eGovernment, and healthcare. The Brazilian government as an institution has plans to switch its operating systems, replacing the current proprietary software scheme for the free software scheme.
Catedral de Brasilia - DF
(Cathedral of Brasilia - DF)
Another Informations
Current account balance: $3.555 billion (2007 est.)
Exports: $160.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports: $120.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $180.3 billion (12/31/07)
Stock of direct foreign investment-at home: $249 billion (2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment -abroad: $107 billion (2007 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares: $711.1 billion (2006)
Natural resources: bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber
Exchange
Dolar/Real(R$)
U$ 1,00 = R$ 1.970
Euro
€1,00 = R$ 2.398
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