Brazil Is Now World's 8th Largest Economy

The news this week has been that China surpassed Japan and has now become the second largest economy in the world. But Brazil now beats Spain and is the eighth power in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Brazil is now rooted firmly in the eighth position among the world's largest economies, this based on official figures compiled by Spanish financial daily Expansion. The ranking of the largest economies has been greatly modified with the global crisis over the past two years.

Based on figures for the first half, Brazil's GDP would be U.S. $ 1.8 trillion, up from $ 1.5 trillion in Spain.

The continuing crisis in rich countries and the rapid recovery of emerging nations like Brazil, made the difference between the two countries in 2010.

IMF Projections

According to Brazilian agency Agestado, the projections of the Fund are for the Brazilian GDP in 2010 to be U.S. $ 1.91 trillion, well above the $ 1.56 trillion set for Spain.

Without a dynamic internal market because of unemployment, Spain became dependent only on exports. But with the crisis in Europe, uncompetitive products and a decline in demand in the U.S., many companies went bankrupt. In total, seven quarters of shrinking GDP, also hampered by the end of the housing bubble that kept 25% of economic growth. Now, the recovery slips and there is talk of another fall at the end of the year.

On the contrary, in Brazil, the international crisis was offset by expansion in domestic market, credit and consumption.

Ranking

Accordnjg to the ranking of the IMF, the United States remains in first place with a nominal GDP projected for 2010 of $ 14.8 trillion, almost triple the Chinese. China comes in second with $ 5.4 trillion followed by Japan with U.S. $ 5.3 trillion. The first European country in the ranking is Germany, with U.S. $ 3.3 trillion, distantly followed by France with $ 2.7 trillion, the UK, with U.S. $ 2.2 trillion, and Italy with $ 2.1 trillion. Brazil is in eighth position, placing already occupied in the '90s, with U.S. $ 1.9 trillion.

Sick Man

In an interview with Spanish daily, former Foreign Minister of the country, Josep Piqué, noted that together the Latin American economies were already the fourth largest economy in the world, surpassing Germany. For him "the sick man of Europe is the world economy." The ranking of the IMF indicates that Brazil's position varied widely since the mid 90s. In 1995, Brazil was the seventh largest economy in nominal GDP, with $ 769.7 billion. The economic crises and the second half of 1990, however, eventually forced the devaluation of the Real in 1999. In 2003 and 2004 Brazil lagged behind countries such as Spain, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and India. Skipping steps Since 2005, however, with the appreciation of the real, and in 2006, with the rapid pace of growth, Brazil has recovered five positions, and arrived in 2009 to ninth place in the ranking of PIBs.

2015

IMF projections suggest that Brazil should keep in eighth place at least until 2015, when the national GDP will reach $ 2.6 trillion. But there will be a significant change in the ranking, since the country will surpass Italy and, will in turn, overtaken by Russia, which should reach 2015 with a GDP of U.S. $ 3.1 trillion. In 2015, according to IMF forecasts, the GDP will reach U.S. $ 18.2 billion. With $ 9.4 trillion, China's GDP will have a little more than half of the U.S.