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. From 2001-03 real wages fell and Brazil's economy grew, on average only 2.2% per year, as the country absorbed a series of domestic and international economic shocks. That Brazil absorbed these shocks without financial collapse is a tribute to the resiliency of the Brazilian economy and the economic program put in place by former President CARDOSO and strengthened by President LULA DA SILVA. Since 2004, Brazil has enjoyed continued growth that yielded increases in employment and real wages. The three pillars of the economic program are a floating exchange rate, an inflation-targeting regime, and tight fiscal policy, initially reinforced by a series of IMF programs. The currency depreciated sharply in 2001 and 2002, which contributed to a dramatic current account adjustment; from 2003 to 2006, Brazil ran record trade surpluses and recorded its first current account surpluses since 1992. Productivity gains - particularly in agriculture - also contributed to the surge in exports. While economic management has been good, there remain important economic vulnerabilities. The most significant are debt-related: the government's largely domestic debt increased steadily from 1994 to 2003 - straining government finances - before falling as a percentage of GDP beginning in 2003. Brazil improved its debt profile in 2006 by shifting its debt burden toward real denominated and domestically held instruments. LULA DA SILVA restated his commitment to fiscal responsibility by maintaining the country's primary surplus during the 2006 election. Following his second inauguration, LULA DA SILVA announced a package of further economic reforms to reduce taxes and increase public investment. A major challenge will be to maintain sufficient growth to generate employment and reduce the government debt burden.
More finance information from Brazil:
General Economic Links:
| Chase.com |
| With many branches across the U.S., Chase provides many personal and business banking services
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| DealBook |
| The New York Times online daily digest of finance news and analysis is constantly updated during the market day.
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| Financial Times |
| This venerable international business newspaper reports extensively on business and stock markets.
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| Financial-portal.com |
Portal presents comprehensive financial resources, articles, news, stats, indexes, financial institutions etc:
- articles on financial topics
- financial news
- latest currency charts
- latest gold, silver, platinum and other precious metal prices
- current financial indexes and dynamic graphs
- universal currency converters (all major currencies)
- stock, commodity and other major exchanges
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| Finweb.com - the independent financial portal |
| "Financial security. Everyone wants it; few have it. Many do not realize that true financial security requires strength in every area of one’s financial affairs. It requires a systematic approach, a strategic plan implemented over time, in order to obtain it. But it can be obtained. With the proper educational training and discipline, financial stability and security is within anyone’s grasp. That’s why we’re here: to provide you with a solid foundation of valuable financial knowledge from which to proceed..."
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| Fitch Ratings |
| Provides independent global credit rating information for the world’s credit markets
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| Forbes.com |
| Extensive coverage of business and financial news, Forbes is one of the premier sites covering the world of business.
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| Google Finance |
| Google Finance provides an unclutered interface to finance news, market summary with graphs, stock quotes, top movers and other indicators. Also search companies by stock code.
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| Kiplinger |
| Personal finance site that offers calculators, business news, quotes and much more personal finance information
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| MarketWatch |
| This Dow Jones operated site provides personal finance news, advice and stock market data and analysis
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| MSN Money |
| The MSN (Microsoft Network) provides a finance portal including latest finance news, market updates and resources.
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| Yahoo Finance |
| The Yahoo search engine provides a finance portal with breaking news, market summaries and editor articles.
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