User talk:João Felipe C.S/Tests

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Economy

Main article: Economy of Brazil
São Paulo, the largest financial center of the country.
São Paulo, the largest financial center of the country.

Brazil's GDP (PPP and Nominal) is the highest of Latin America with large and developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing,[1] and service sectors, as well as a large labor pool. The country has been expanding its presence in international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment.[2] Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in development levels. Most large industry is agglomerated in the Southern and South East states. The Northeast is the poorest region of Brazil, but it has attracted new investments in infrastructure for the tourism sector and intensive agricultural schemes.[3][4][5][6] According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP)[7][8] and tenth largest at market exchange rates.[9][10] Brazil had pegged its currency, the real, to the U.S. dollar in 1994. However, after the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian default in 1998[11] and the series of adverse financial events that followed it, the Brazilian central bank has temporarily changed its monetary policy to a managed-float scheme while undergoing a currency crisis, until definitively changing the exchange regime to free-float in January 1999.[12]

Brazil received an IMF rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of $30.4 billion,[13][14] a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006).[15] One of the issues the Brazilian central bank is currently dealing with is the excess of speculative short-term capital inflows to the country in the past few months, which might explain in part the recent downfall of the U.S. dollar against the real in the period.[16] Nonetheless, foreign direct investment (FDI), related to long-term, less speculative investment in production, is estimated to be $193.8 billion for 2007.[17] Inflation monitoring and control currently plays a major role in Brazil's Central Bank activity in setting out short-term interest rates as a monetary policy measure.[18]

[edit] Energy policy

Main article: Energy policy of Brazil
Itaipu Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric plant by energy generation.
Itaipu Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric plant by energy generation.

Brazil is the 10th largest energy consumer in the world and the largest in Latin America. Simultaneously, it is also a large oil and gas producer in the region and the world's largest ethanol producer. Because of its ethanol fuel production Brazil has been sometimes described as a bio-energy superpower.[19] Brazil's ethanol fuel is produced from sugar cane, the world's largest crop in both production and export tonnage.

With the 1973 oil crisis the Brazilian government initiated in 1975 the Pró-Álcool program. The Pró-Álcool or Programa Nacional do Álcool (National Alcohol Program) was a nation-wide program financed by the government to replace automobile fuels derived from fossil fuels in favor of ethanol. The program successfully reduced the number of cars running on gasoline in Brazil by 10 million, thereby reducing the country's dependence on oil imports. Brazil's production and consumption of biodiesel relative to its energy matrix is expected to reach to 2% of diesel fuel in 2008 and 5% in 2013.[20] Brazil is the third largest hydroelectricity producer in the world after the People's Republic of China and Canada. In 2004 hydropower accounted 83% of Brazil power production.[20] The gross theoretical capability exceeds 3,000 TWh per annum, of which 800 TWh per annum is economically exploitable.[21] Also in 2004, Brazil produced 321 TWh of hydropower, which was the third largest hydropower production in the world.[22] The installed capacity is 69 GW.[22] Brazil co-owns Itaipu hydroelectric power plant on the Paraná River which is the world largest hydroelectric power plant by energy generation with the installed generation capacity of 14 GW by 20 generating units of 700 MW each.[23]

[edit] Science and technology

Main article: Science and technology in Brazil
An Embraer E-175 jet airliner, developed in Brazil and used by airlines around the world.
An Embraer E-175 jet airliner, developed in Brazil and used by airlines around the world.

Brazilian science effectively began in the first decades of the 19th century, when the Portuguese Royal Family, headed by John VI, arrived in Rio de Janeiro, escaping from the Napoleon's army invasion of Portugal in 1807. Until then, Brazil was a Portuguese colony, without universities, and a lack of cultural and scientific organizations, in stark contrast to the former American colonies of the Spanish Empire, which although having a largely illiterate population like Brazil and Portugal, had, however, a number of universities since the 16th century.

Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes. Nonetheless, more than 73% of funding for basic research still comes from government sources.[24] Some of Brazil's most notables technological hubs are the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Air Force's Aerospace Technical Center, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the INPE. Brazil has the most advanced space program in Latin America, with significant capabilities to launch vehicles, launch sites and satellite manufacturing.[25] On October 14, 1997, the Brazilian Space Agency signed an agreement with NASA to provide parts for the ISS.[26] Uranium is enriched at the Resende Nuclear Fuel Factory to fuel the country's energy demands. Plans are on the way to build the country's first nuclear submarine.[27] Brazil is one of the two countries in Latin America[28] with an operational Synchrotron Laboratory, a research facility on physics, chemistry, material science and life sciences.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Central Intelligence Agency website, "CIA Factbook", retrieved June 9, 2005.
  2. ^ The Economist survey on Brazil, "The economy of heat", published April 12, 2007, retrieved 11 June 2007.
  3. ^ Siegel et al. (2205) "Public Investments in Tourism in Northeast Brazil: Does a Poor-area Strategy Benefit the Poor?", IMF Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 22, retrieved August 15, 2007
  4. ^ Economy and Business. Brazilian Government Web Portal. Retrieved on August 16, 2007.
  5. ^ Beintema et al. (2001) "Agricultural R&D in Brazil - Policy, Investments, and Institutional Profile". Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute, August 2001.
  6. ^ Gateway to South America. Retrieved on 2007-06-24. “Brazil”
  7. ^ World Economic Outlook Database. International Monetary Fund (2007-04-01). Retrieved on 2007-08-15. “Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP”
  8. ^ World Development Indicators database. World Bank (2007-07-01). Retrieved on 2007-08-15. “PPP GDP 2006”
  9. ^ World Economic Outlook Database. International Monetary Fund (2007-04-01). Retrieved on 2007-08-15. “Gross domestic product, current prices”
  10. ^ World Development Indicators database. World Bank (2007-07-01). Retrieved on 2007-08-15. “Total GDP 2006”
  11. ^ Baig et al. (2000) "The Russian default and the Contagion to Brazil", IMF Working Paper. Retrieved on August 16, 2007.
  12. ^ Fraga, Arminio "Monetary Policy During the Transition to a Floating Exchange Rate: Brazil's Recent Experience", Finance & Development, IMF, March 2000, retrieved on 10 June 2007
  13. ^ Business Week website, "Brazil: When an IMF Bailout Is Not Enough", September 2, 2002. Retrieved on 12 June 2007.
  14. ^ Stiglitz, Joseph (August 2002) "A second chance for Brazil and the IMF", retrieved 12 June 2007.
  15. ^ BBC News website, "Brazil to pay off IMF debts early", retrieved 12 June 2007.
  16. ^ Economic Quarterly March 2007, IPEA. Retrieved on August 16, 2007.
  17. ^ The Institute of International Finance, "Capital Flows to Emerging Markets Set at Close to Record Levels", retrieved 6 June 2007
  18. ^ Central Bank of Brazil, "IPCA, IPC-FIPE and IPC-BR: Methodological and Empirical Differences" (2004), retrieved 18 June 2007.
  19. ^ Brazil - A Bio-Energy Superpower, by Mario Osava, Tierramérica
  20. ^ a b OECD/IEA. World Energy Outlook 2006. ISBN 92-64-10989-7
  21. ^ (2004). "Survey of energy resources" (PDF). . World Energy Council Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
  22. ^ a b Key World Energy Statistics -- 2006 Edition (PDF). International Energy Agency (2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
  23. ^ Power: World's biggest hydroelectric facility. USGS. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  24. ^ Brazilian Government. Skills training for growth. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  25. ^ Brazil - The Space Program. country-data.com (April 1997). Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  26. ^ Brazilian International Space Station Program. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  27. ^ "Brazil to revive nuclear project", BBC News, BBC, 2007-07-11. Retrieved on 2008-05-24. 
  28. ^ ELSA - Particle Accelerators Around the World