|
Brazil's economy expanded less than anticipated in the second quarter as workers across the nation headed home early to watch the country's soccer team play in the month long World Cup, the government said yesterday.
Gross domestic product in Latin America's largest economy rose 1.2 percent in the April-June period compared to the same quarter a year earlier, leaving growth at a disappointing 1.7 percent rate for the 12 month-period from July 2005 through June, the Brazilian Census Bureau said. The quarter to quarter rate was far slower than the 3.3 percent expansion during the January-March period this year compared to the same quarter last year, and came in below estimates by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. Besides the work slowdowns during the World Cup, Brazilian exports were also crimped during the quarter because Brazil's currency, the real, advanced strongly against the US dollar at the beginning of the year. The government has predicted that Brazil's economy will grow 3.5 percent for 2006, following 2.3 percent growth last year. The disappointing quarterly report will likely prompt financial experts to reduce their expectations for near-term economic growth. But many economists expect Brazil's economy will pick up steam again in the second half of the year with increasing consumer spending following a series of decreases in Brazil's sky-high benchmark interest rate. GDP, the nation's total output of goods and services, edged up only 0.5 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2006. The report was bad news for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is campaigning for re-election on a platform of improving Brazil's economy. But polls have shown da Silva could crush his main opponent, former São Paulo state Governor Geraldo Alckmin. Several surveys this week predicted he would win more than 50 percent of the vote in the October 1st elections, preventing the contest from going to a second round. The GDP result was released a day after Brazil's Central bank reduced the benchmark Selic rate from 14.75 percent to 14.25 percent. While down from 19.75 percent last year, the rate is still among the highest on the planet. Industrial production fell 0.3 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, largely because virtually all businesses and factories in the country of 185 million people closed early on the days that Brazil's soccer team played during June's World Cup competition in Germany. Five-time champion Brazil played dismally, deeply disappointing the nation after being eliminated to eventual runner-up France in the quarterfinals. Italy won the World Cup. Mercopress
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
Does Argentina (just 1 example) not enjoy football as much as Brazil ?
Have they had such a disaster GDP growth in their second quarter ????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !
Simple demonstration that Lula and his gang of very bad and inept Ministers dont want to face the sad reality.
It is never their faults when things are not good but they are always responsible when things are a little brighter.
Typically Lula and his gang of corrupted people !
Worse there is NOT. Wether they like it or not, statistics and rankings put them at the queue of the queue.
With Captain Lula at the helm of the Brazilian boat, disaster is a GUARANTEE !
So you already know what will happen in Brazil during 2007-2010