A week or so ago, I wrote a blog about Lula’s Reprimanding Brazil which touched on the general consensus towards the way he has been managing Brazil. Today’s blog is a continuation to highlight the current economic situation. One improvement has been Brazil’s surpassing of Russia and now Italy’s Growth Domestic Product, from 10th position to eighth. See chart below for current standings!
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the total economic activity in a country, or the size of its economy. It's calculated by adding up the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders during a specific period of time, such as a quarter or a year. GDP is the most commonly used indicator of how well a country is doing financially.
GDP includes four components: consumption of goods and services, government spending, business investment, and net exports. Consumption of goods and services includes spending by households on items like food, shelter, clothing, and health care.
Interestingly enough, many complain against Lula with regards to his overspending on running Brazil. The online source Poder360 wrote, Lula spent R$65.9 million on 62 days of travel abroad in 2023. It begs the question of why did he spend so much? But then who cares if he is bringing results to the economy? So many political encounters have meant Brazil is in the limelight and it has developed international business potential.
Another important economic improvement is data on revenue collection which is available on the Federal Revenue website. As for revenue managed by the agency, the amount collected last month was R$214.79 billion, representing a real increase of 9.85%. Year-to-date, revenue collection reached R$1.45 trillion, a real increase of 9.07%. It’s the best month yet, and apparently the strongest 12-month period in 30 years.
GDP per capita is very low, but then it always has been, and this is a result of structural challenges for the Brazilian economy which includes a still complex tax system, a cumbersome business environment that discourages entrepreneurship, low savings and infrastructure investments, and limited integration in global markets that curb innovation and hinder competitiveness.
You might be able to attack Lula over different issues, but one cannot say he is the only responsible party for the difficulties. One thing in his favor is his ability to build rapport and subsequently integrate with foreign nations while ultimately making business relationships through commercial awareness; something that the ex-president couldn’t do.
Yes, he has had a shady past with some current defects, but then is everyone perfect?
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Surpassing (adj) = outstanding, superior, exceptional, greater, better, exceeding, beating, bettering, outdoing
Borders (n) = limits, limitations, boundaries, restrictions, margins, precincts, edges, boundaries
Comments