Overview: The economy, with large agrarian, mining, and manufacturing sectors, entered the 1990s with declining real growth, runaway inflation, an unserviceable foreign debt of $122 billion, and a lack of policy direction. In addition, the economy remained highly regulated, inward-looking, and protected by substantial trade and investment barriers. Ownership of major industrial and mining facilities is divided among private interests - including several multinationals - and the government. Most large agricultural holdings are private, with the government channeling financing to this sector. Conflicts between large landholders and landless peasants have produced intermittent violence. The COLLOR government, which assumed office in March 1990, launched an ambitious reform program that sought to modernize and reinvigorate the economy by stabilizing prices, deregulating the economy, and opening it to increased foreign competition. The government also obtained an IMF standby loan in January 1992 and reached agreements with commercial bankers on the repayment of interest arrears and on the reduction of debt and debt service payments. Galloping inflation (the rate doubled in 1992 and by March 1994 had risen to 42% per month) continues to undermine economic stability. Itamar FRANCO, who assumed the presidency following President COLLOR'S resignation in December 1992, was out of step with COLLOR'S reform agenda; initiatives to redress fiscal problems, privatize state enterprises, and liberalize trade and investment policies have lost momentum. Brazil's natural resources remain a major, long-term economic strength

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $785 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 5% (1993)

National product per capita: $5,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2,709% (1993)

Unemployment rate: 4.9% (1993)

Budget:
revenues: $113 billion
expenditures: $109 billion, including capital expenditures of $23 billion (1992)

Exports: $38.8 billion (f.o.b. 1993)
commodities: iron ore, soybean bran, orange juice, footwear, coffee, motor vehicle parts
partners: EC 27.6%, Latin America 21.8%, US 17.4%, Japan 6.3% (1993)

Imports: $25.7 billion (f.o.b. 1993)
commodities: crude oil, capital goods, chemical products, foodstuffs, coal
partners: US 23.3%, EC 22.5%, Middle East 13.0%, Latin America 11.8%, Japan 6.5% (1993)

External debt: $119 billion (1993)

Industrial production: growth rate 9.5% (1993); accounts for 39% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 63,765,000 kW
production: 242.184 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 1,531 kWh (1992)

Industries: textiles and other consumer goods, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, steel, motor vehicles and auto parts, metalworking, capital goods, tin

Agriculture: accounts for 11% of GDP; world's largest producer and exporter of coffee and orange juice concentrate and second-largest exporter of soybeans; other products - rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, beef; self-sufficient in food, except for wheat

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis and coca, mostly for domestic consumption; government has a modest eradication program to control cannabis and coca cultivation; important transshipment country for Bolivian and Colombian cocaine headed for the US and Europe

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $2.5 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $10.2 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $284 million; former Communist countries (1970-89), $1.3 billion

Currency: 1 cruzeiro real (CR$) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: CR$ per US$1 - 390.845 (January 1994), 88.449 (1993), 4.513 (1992), 0.407 (1991), 0.068 (1990), 0.003 (1989)
note: on 1 August 1993 the cruzeiro real, equal to 1,000 cruzeiros, was introduced; another new currency, the real, will be introduced on 1 July 1994

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Brazil on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Brazil Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Brazil Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.