São Paulo – Brazil has been “consolidating itself among the nations that grow most for some time,” said country Finance minister Guido Mantega, on commenting a study disclosed by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), which placed Brazil as the sixth main economy in the world, ahead of the United Kingdom. Mantega made the statement in a short interview to television channels, among them TV Brasil, on Monday (26), in São Paulo.
“This is something that has come to stay, as we observe that several countries in the world are in a crisis and will continue growing slowly, as is the case with the European nations. [We] have become the sixth economy in the world on overtaking the United Kingdom and have chances to continue overtaking other European nations, which are going to continue slow for years to come,” said the minister.
Mantega also added that the challenges for Brazil are to maintain the dynamism and “face the problems that this crisis [in Europe] puts us in”. Among the problems, the minister mentioned the lack of international credit and the growth of “predatory competition”.
According to the minister, Brazil may reach 2015 as the fifth largest economy in the world, if the economy continues growing. “We may expand our growth average and exceed 4% in coming years,” he said.
To Mantega, despite now being the sixth economy in the world, Brazil cannot yet be considered a developed economy. “We must improve the standard of living. We must also improve health, education and provide greater chances for people to buy their own homes. We still face many challenges to reach the European standard.”
*Translated by Mark Ament
