Yes, This IS about the Economy...but it wont be TOO Boring.....No...Seriously..OK, I lied...But Oh Well....Here it is....
Economy - overview: Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries and is expanding its presence in world markets. The maintenance of large current account deficits via capital account surpluses became problematic as investors became more risk averse to emerging market exposure as a consequence of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the Russian bond default in August 1998. After crafting a fiscal adjustment program and pledging progress on structural reform, Brazil received a .5 billion IMF-led international support program in November 1998. In January 1999, the Brazilian Central Bank announced that the real would no longer be pegged to the US dollar. This devaluation helped moderate the downturn in economic growth in 1999 that investors had expressed concerns about over the summer of 1998, and the country posted moderate GDP growth. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001 - to less than 2% - because of a slowdown in major markets and the hiking of interest rates by the Central Bank to combat inflationary pressures. Investor confidence was strong at yearend 2001, in part because of the strong recovery in the trade balance.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.34 trillion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 1.9% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - ,400 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 9%
industry: 32%
services: 59% (2000 est.)
Population below poverty line: 22% (1998 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1%
highest 10%: 46.7% (1997)