Agência Brasil*
Brasília – Brazil has risen from the seventh to the sixth position among the largest economies in the world, according to a study disclosed yesterday (18) by the World Bank. The International Comparison Programme (ICP) compared the size of the economies of 146 countries.
The document shows that Brazil answers to half of the South American economy. According to the report, Brazilian governmental expenses answer to two thirds of the governmental expenses in the region.
The research is based on figures for 2005, when all the riches produced worldwide totalled US$ 55 trillion. The text says that 40% of all products and services came from developing countries.
According to the World Bank, a change in the evaluation formula permitted the elevation of Brazil and other nations, like China, which rose to the second place. As the main system for comparison, the report used purchasing power parity – which permits evaluation in the local currency, and not simply through the conversion of the local currency to the dollar.
"Through purchasing power parity it is possible to compare the size of the market, the structure of the economies and what money can buy," says the World Bank report.
The document places the United States in first and China in second. In third place come Japan, Germany in fourth and India in Fifth. Brazil is in the sixth place, in the same position as the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Italy. Spain and Mexico were in the seventh place.
Following the new parameters, the United States, China, Japan, Germany and India together answer to almost half of the world economy.
*Translated by Mark Ament
