CONSUMPTION OF THE BRIC COUNTRIES

The unstoppable consumption of the BRIC Countries

The unstoppable consumption of the BRIC Countries

After more than a century of delayed or interrupted promises of greatness, Brazil seems to be at the dawn of a brilliant new era. The selfdeprecating irony is slowly seeping out of declarations of grandeza (greatness) that long aroused powerful ambivalence among Brazilians. For the first time since its independence Brazilians can look at two solid unprecedented decades of significant social, economic and political accomplishments. Long described as among the more promising of the developing world, Brazil presently finds itself in the lofty exclusive club of future global leaders.

Indeed, Brazil seems to be on an unstoppable roll. The entire world is turning its attention to Brazil. The country will host the World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 - in the case of the Olympics, the first Latin American country to do so. Brazil, however, is an acknowledged powerhouse in soccer. It has won the World Cup five times and hosted the affair in 1950. The country has long been famous for its sports, music, and alluringly beautiful beaches. The World Cup and the Olympic Games will offer further opportunities to show off the country. Brazil expects to invest more than US$50 billion on upgrading facilities and transport systems that will be around long after the games, and it is hoped that the hundreds of thousands of visitors for those special events will become frequently returning tourists.

But it is in the economic realm that Brazil really has emerged as a super power. For a long time the now tarnished New York firm of Goldman Sachs has been issuing periodic reports on the future of the leading emerging economies. In 2001 Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs coined the acronym, BRIC, to denote the four most rapidly developing countries in the world -Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He calculated then, and further reports have reinforced the initial assertion while telescoping the timeline toward achievement of the stated goals, that by 2032 the four indicated countries would overtake the G7 and by 2050 the combined economies of the BRIC would eclipse those of all the other richest countries combined. The world economy has made obsolete the original G7 formed in 1976 by Canada, France, the USA, Great Britain, Germany (then, West Germany), Italy, and Japan.

At the moment Brazil presents an interesting overall economic picture. It generally ranks behind its BRIC peers in many categories. Brazil ranks fifth in the world in geographical size, cultivated land area, number of mobile phones in use, number of internet users. It also ranks fifth in population and proportion of the population in the active labour force. It ranks among the top 10 in nominal GDP, in rail and road networks, motor vehicle production, and electricity consumption, while in terms of imports and exports it ranks 21st and 24th. It has, however, the second largest forested area after Russia, and the third largest number of riverine waterways after China ...