A12 - Is the Brazilian giant finally awakening?

Summary

Over recent years, Brazil has emerged on the international scene as one of the world's fastest-growing emerging economies and markets alongside Russia, India and China, all of which compose a grouping labelled the ‘BRICs’ by the international financial institution Goldman Sachs in an influential 2003 report.

After the end of the military government in 1985, it took almost a decade of civilian leadership and a series of crises for the country to eventually find a path to economic stability in a politically plural, open and more competitive environment. Strategic reforms, initiated in 1994, have brought about a positive combination of mature democracy, strong and consolidated democratic and republican institutions, with price stability and a diversified economy.

More recently, global growth and income distribution programmes, such as Bolsa Família, have contributed to a decrease in the country's notorious levels of inequality (millions of poor people became consumers for the first time) and to the expansion of the middle class. The country's agricultural sector, which until not long ago was often associated with slavery and the abuse of workers' rights, has also undergone outstanding improvements. Owing to the rapid development of the sugar ethanol industry, Brazilian agriculture is now a symbol of the country's emergence as a social innovator on the world stage.

A large stock of harvested and unused fertile land, a hospitable climate and abundant water have made it possible for Brazil to become a leader in global agricultural commodities markets, with the expansion of its food exports likely to continue given the competitive cost of these commodities.