IBGE revises 2007 GDP growth to 6.1%
O Estado de S. Paulo
The expansion of the Brazilian economy in 2007 was revised upwards by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The rate of 5.7% calculated before for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was adjusted to 6.1% by the Institute that presented the final result yesterday. With that, the growth of that year became the best of the Federal Adminsitraton, as well as the country's greatest economic growth in 21 years, only behind the result of 1986, year the Cruzado Economic Plan was implemented, with 7.5%.
The data also shows the actual valuation of the Real decreased the participation of industry - segment strongly influenced by the price of the dollar - in the GDP from 2004 to 2007, at the same time as it increased the share of the service segment. With the revision of the GDP, the performance of 2007, which had equaled 2004's, considerably overcame the data registered during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Government (1995-2002), whose largest expansion reached 4.3% in 2000.
The revision upwards was influenced by the industry - that grew 5.3%, compared to the 4.7% in the previous survey - and by the services, whose GDP variation in 2007 went from 5.4% to 6.1%. Another important impact was given by Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), which corresponds to investments that went from 13.5% to 13.9% with the revision.
"The new results indicate the performance of the Brazilian economy in 2007 was even better than it had been previously announced, with greater concentration in the industrial and service sectors, influenced by greater Governmental consumption and more investments", remarked Bernardo Wjuniski, the analyst of the consulting firm Tendências Consultoria. The governmental consumption went from 4.7% to 5.1%.
The data showed that the participation of industry in the GDP fell from 30.1% in 2004 to 29.3% in 2005, 28.8% in 2006 and 27.8% in 2007. As for services, they had an upward trajectory, from 63% of the GDP in 2004 to 66.6% in 2007. The manager for the coordination of national accounts of the Institute, Chris Martins, attributed the change to the appreciation of the Brazilian currency. Between 2004 and 2007, the Real became nearly 37% more expensive. And only from 2006 to 2007, the appreciation reached 10.5%.