General news about Brazil issue #6

Growth slowed to 2.7% last year – but that was still enough to help Brazil overtake the UK as the world’s 6th largest economyOn the screen an awestruck Nicole Kidman stares down at Rio’s spectacular, undulating mountains from the comfort of an executive jet.She steps onto the tarmac and is ushered into a stretch limousine. It carries her through the sun-kissed streets of this seaside city, past the Sugar Loaf mountain and along Ipanema beach to the seductive beat of a bossa nova.

Finally, Kidman emerges from the car and sweeps down a green carpet in a skin-tight red ballgown, surrounded by paparazzi. Her destination?Rio’s Village Mall, a R$350m (£125m) luxury shopping centre being erected in Barra da Tijuca, a rapidly growing neighbourhood in the city’s west zone.

“The Village Mall is the shopping centre Rio de Janeiro was waiting for,” gushes the voiceover on the glamorous television commercial, for which Kidman was reportedly paid some R$400,000.

Set to open later this year, the mall is only the latest symbol of Brazil‘s commodity-fuelled boom which on Tuesday helped the country overtake the UK as the world’s 6th largest economy. more…

Figures show Brazilian economy rose 2.7% last year compared with the UK’s 0.8% – but per capita income remains a third lessBrazil has claimed the UK’s spot as the world’s sixth largest economy after official figures showed its economy rose 2.7% last year against the UK’s 0.8%. France remains in fifth place behind Germany, Japan, China and the US.The per capita income of Brazilians remains less than a third of that enjoyed in the UK at $11,000 (£7,000) per head, but the situation is improving all the time while western economies largely stagnate.

The economic thinktank, the CEBR, predicted last year that Brazil would climb above the UK in 2012 and would itself be leapfrogged by India and Russia by 2020.

Tim Ohlenburg, of the CEBR, said the high value of Brazil’s currency was a big factor in the country’s burgeoning wealth.

“It is a bigger economy when measured at current market exchange rates,” he said. more…

Brazil has now officially overtaken the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy. Here’s how to tell the two nations apart.

Brazil:

Economy: Well that’s the point, obviously. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), Brazil has now overtaken the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy. Despite growing at a mere 3.5% last year (against 7.5% over the previous few years) the Latin American powerhouse has seen its GDP reach a record £1.6tn. And it’s not about to hit the buffers any time soon.

Population: Partly explains the above. As well as being the world’s sixth largest economy, Brazil is also the world’s sixth most populous country. It has around 200 million people and is (another plus) overwhelmingly young: some 62% of Brazilians are under 29 years of age. The country also has the the largest number of people of Japanese descent outside Japan. Although that’s probably not relevant.more…

• ‘I lament profoundly the incorrect interpretation of my words’• Brazil’s government said it would not deal with Valcke anymoreFifa‘s secretary general, Jerome Valcke, has apologised to Brazil after the country’s government told Fifa that it would no longer deal with him because of his remarks about its preparations for the 2014 World Cup.In a statement addressed to Brazil’s sports minister, Valcke said his comments translated from French to Portuguese last week came out much stronger than they were supposed to.

The apology came after Brazil delivered a letter signed by the country’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo to the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, officially announcing the country’s position not to welcome Valcke.

In a statement urging Brazil to speed up its World Cup preparations, Valcke was quoted on Friday as saying: “You have to push yourself, kick your [backside].”more…