Friday, October 30, 2009

Why investors are wild for Brazil

This is probably one of these times I wished I; (1) spoke more foreign languages, and (2) kept in the loop on the international economic markets.  I have not paid much attention to Brazil since they had to borrow $30 billion from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to avoid default in 2002. 

Latin America is currently presenting an amazing growth opportunity in both the overall economic and online sector.  Latin America's largest and leading country, Brazil, escaped the financial crisis relatively unscathed and is now reporting economic figures that we can only dream about along with other up and coming countries such as China.

The GDP growth this year for this two-trillion dollar economy is projected to remained flat, but for 2010 they are expected to expand 3.5%. Brazil is an export oriented economy with a healthy mix of both commodity production and manufacturing.  Because of this economy, Brazil's year-to-date trade surplus totaled $22.5 billion, up from $20.5 billion for the same period of 2008.  The biggest exports include transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, shoes, coffee, and cars to nations such as the US, China, Argentina, Netherlands, and Germany.

One of the biggest drivers of its growth is Brazil's wealth of natural resources.  Brazil is home to one of the most important sources of iron ore, and home to one of the world's largest producer, Vale.  Without this raw material, the rapid growth of developing countries such as China would not be possible.

In addition, there is estimated reserves of 60-100 billion barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent within it's country lines.  Lastly, for agriculture, the country's tropical climate, fertile land, and cheap labor provides a huge cost advantage verses other competing nations. 

Probably one of the more impressive figures is during this economic recession/downturn, Brazil has been creating job growth for the past eight months.  In September, employment grew by almost a quarter of a million jobs.  The Brazilian stock market bottomed in October 2008, much earlier than other markets, but has since doubled.



You need more reason to do business and maybe move to Brazil?  How about a handful of the top Victoria Secret models are from Brazil, and they per capita contain some of the most beautiful women in the world (see picture above)?  Ok, done deal.  

More Highlights can be found here:

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