Brazilian 2009 GDP was one of the best of G-20
O Estado de S. Paulo
Even with the negative performance, marked by the 0.2% retreat of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Brazilian economy had one of the best performances of the Western hemisphere in 2009 compared to the other G-20 members. Among the largest economies of Latin America, only Argentina's, which grew 0.9%, was better. Australia and the Asian countries of China, India, Indonesia and South Korea also had positive performances, proving the good resistance of the region to the financial crisis.
The comparison is based on partial data collected by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from statistical institutes of the 20 largest economies. According to the ranking - which differs in the percentages, but not in the trends revealed by the classification presented yesterday by the Central Bank -, the Brazilian GDP is the seventh best of the G-20.
By the order of the OECD, in 2009 China presented the best performance, with 8.7%, followed by India (5.6%), Indonesia (4.5%), Australia (2.7%) and South Korea (0.2%). Next would be Argentina, which according to the National Institute of Statistics (Indec) of Argentina it would have grown 0.9% in 2009. Next on the list is Brazil and its GDP of -0.2%, the first country with negative performance. Worse than the Brazilian economy were South Africa (-1.8%), France (-2.2%), the United States (-2.4%), Canada (-2.6%) and the European trio formed by Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, whose estimates indicate retractions of 5%. The list is completed by Turkey (-5.8%), Mexico (-6.5%) and Russia (-7.9%), the latter is the only one of the Bric countries registering performance worse than Brazil's.
The Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Belgium, all G-20 guest members, also had performances below the Brazilian one. To the BBC Brazil, the Regional Officer for Latin America of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Justine Thody, recalled the country will neither lose - nor gain - positions in the world ranking of the greatest economies, and it remains in ninth position.