Brazil economy overtakes UK, says CEBR!

It sounds like a fiction novel. But in the new world of creaking national economies old certainties are rapidly disappearing:

Brazil has overtaken the UK as the world's sixth largest economy, an economic research group has said.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said its latest World Economic League Table showed Asian countries moving up and European countries falling back.

The CEBR also predicted that the UK economy would overtake France by 2016...

CEBR chief executive Douglas McWilliams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Brazil overtaking the UK was part of a growing trend.

"I think it's part of the big economic change, where not only are we seeing a shift from the west to the east, but we're also seeing that countries that produce vital commodities - food and energy and things like that - are doing very well and they're gradually climbing up the economic league table," he said...

Source


So there you have it. Have high-tech economies had their day? Will it be the countries with the greatest natural resources — like Russia, for instance — that are best placed, in the long run, to rise from the current turmoil? And will South America now become a new economic powerhouse, rivalling the other well-recognised economic blocs?

What is more does this signal the beginning of new rivalries, even economic colonialism (via corporate takeovers, etc.) or will it signal new opportunities for effective free trade that will help lift poorer regions out of poverty?

Or will regional convergence just prove to be another step on the way to global economic — and eventually political — union?

it's misleading those stats.

if you're 115 ft tall and growing 2% a year, and the next guy is 6 ft tall and growing at 3% a year, i'd still take the 115 ft guy in a fight now and 20 years from now.

reply to post by randomname


I checked out the CEBR website and couldn't find the article referred to. (Perhaps it has not yet been officially published.)

Looking at the publicly available stats from the world bank I came up with the following:

Graph showing UK GDP

Graph showing Brazillian GDP

It looks like we are talking about the absolute size of the economy, not growth.

Let's not forget the large portion of the British economy based on infinite rehypothecation and shadow banking. That inflates the numbers in their favor and when it comes crashing down Brazil will still have its resources to rely on.

Looking at the Brazil web stores it looks like 17" screened laptops are still being kept from them.


Half the computers have Linux on them. Appears the Brazilians prefer Linux.


They may be booming but they're getting what will be allowed to be sold to them.