Economy of Brazil - History

History

When the Portuguese explorers arrived in the 15th century, the native tribes of current-day Brazil, totaling about 2.5 million people, had lived virtually unchanged since the Stone Age. From Portugal's colonisation of Brazil (1500-1822) until the late 1930s, the market elements of the Brazilian economy relied on the production of primary products for exports. Within the Portuguese Empire, Brazil was a colony subjected to an imperial mercantile policy, which had three main large-scale economic production cycles - sugar, gold and, from the early 19th century on, coffee. The economy of Brazil was heavily dependent on African enslaved labour until the late 19th century (about 3 million imported African enslaved individuals in total). Since then, Brazil experienced a period of strong economic and demographic growth accompanied by mass immigration from Europe (mainly from Portugal, Italy, Spain and Germany), the Middle East and Japan until the 1930s. In the Americas, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Canada (in descending order) were the countries that received most immigrants. In Brazil's case, statistics show that 4.5 million people emigrated to the country between 1882 and 1934.

Currently, with a population of over 190 million and abundant natural resources, Brazil is one of the ten largest markets in the world, producing tens of millions of tons of steel, 26 million tons of cement, 3.5 million television sets, and 3 million refrigerators. In addition, about 70 million cubic meters of petroleum were being processed annually into fuels, lubricants, propane gas, and a wide range of hundred petrochemicals. Furthermore, Brazil has at least 161,500 kilometers of paved roads and more than 93 Gigawatts of installed electric power capacity.

Its real per capita GDP has surpassed US$ 10,500 in 2008, due to the strong and continued appreciation of the real for the first time this decade. Its industrial sector accounts for three fifths of the Latin American economy's industrial production. The country’s scientific and technological development is argued to be attractive to foreign direct investment, which has averaged US$ 30 billion per year the last years, compared to only US$ 2 billion per year last decade, thus showing a remarkable growth. The agricultural sector, locally called the agronegócio (agrobusiness), has also been remarkably dynamic: for two decades this sector has kept Brazil amongst the most highly productive countries in areas related to the rural sector. The agricultural sector and the mining sector also supported trade surpluses which allowed for massive currency gains (rebound) and external debt paydown. Due to downturn in Western economies Brazil found itself in 2010 trying to halt the appreciation of the real.

Data from the Asian Development Bank and the Tax Justice Network show the untaxed "shadow" economy of GDP for Brazil is 39%.