Brazil, South America’s biggest country, may become a global economic superstar in the future, but it will have to stop being an inward-looking giant.
There is new evidence that, despite President Dilma Rousseff’s announcement last week that Brazil will have a record grain crop this year, the country’s huge oil discoveries, and the unique propaganda opportunity Brazil will gain from hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, recent trade trends don’t bode well for the country.
The World Bank recently published a report entitled ‘The Brazilian Competitiveness Cliff’ that shows Brazil’s exports of high-value industrial goods aren’t doing well. It says Brazil is facing “considerable competitiveness challenges.” Translation: the country is falling behind other emerging powers.
The report, written by World Bank economists Otaviano Canuto,
