Rio de Janeiro – The Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced this morning that Brazilian GDP growth in 2010 was 7.5%, compared to 2009. The 2010 GDP growth is the highest since 1986, when the economy also grew 7.5%.
In nominal terms, the value of all of Brazil’s goods and services was 3.675 trillion Brazilian reals (US$ 2.2 trillion). Growth in 2010, says the IBGE, was boosted by the low basis for comparison in the previous year, when the GDP dropped 0.6%, pushed mainly by the effects of the international financial crisis.
Expansion in 2010 was boosted by an average rise of 6.7% in so-called basic prices and an increase of 12.5% in taxes.
The IBGE study also shows that industrial output jumped 10.1%, boosted by strong performances in mining (up 15.7%) and civil construction (11.6%). Production in the agricultural sector rose 6.5%, led by soy (20.2%), wheat (20.1%), coffee (17.6%), maize (9.4%) sugarcane (5.7%) and oranges (4.1%).
The services sector rose 5.4%, led by the financial and insurance segments. The commercial sector had solid growth of 10.7%. According to IBGE, the growth in working population, average wage and credit sustained growth in sales last year. Apart from that, there was 8.9% expansion in transportation, storage and mail, and 3.8% in information services.
The IBGE says that family consumption rose 7%, expanding for the seventh consecutive year, and there was 3.3% growth in government procurement. Gross fixed capital formation in 2010 rose a sharp 21.8%, the highest annual result since the IBGE began keeping records in 1996.
In foreign trade, exports rose 11.5% and imports were up 36.2%.
GDP represents all production of a country and is used to estimate the size of the national economy. To calculate GDP, the IBGE uses its own research throughout the year, in areas like agriculture, industry, civil construction and transportation.
*Translated by Allen Bennett and Mark Ament
