Rio, June 29, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Brazil's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) totaled R$ 387.7 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to data announced today by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). This figure is 2.7% higher than in the first quarter of 2003, when the total wealth produced in the country was R$ 248.7 billion.

Industry accounted for R$ 130.15 billion of the GDP in the first quarter of 2004; agriculture, R$ 42.1 billion; and services, R$ 189.9 billion.

The financial capacity of the Brazilian economy in the first quarter of 2004 stood at R$ 5.2 billion, ten times more than in the same period last year. Consumption by families amounted to R$ 221.6 billion; consumption by government, R$ 64.7 billion; and fixed capital investments, R$ 74.8 billion. The balance of goods and services yielded a R$ 15.5 billion surplus, since Brazil exported R$ 65.2 billion and imported R$ 49.8 billion in the first quarter. Inventories rose R$ 11.6 billion.

Gross national income, which represents the GDP plus external accounts, rose from R$ 336.9 billion in the first quarter of 2003 to R$ 374.7 billion in the first quarter of this year. Gross saviings (income not used for consumption) came to R$ 90.6 billion in 2004, as against R$ 73.7 billion over the same period last year.

When the fourth quarter of 2003 is used as the basis of comparison, there was a decline in the GDP, since the GDP during that period totaled R$ 405 billion. Growth was registered only in fixed capital investments (from R$ 73.8 billion to R$ 74.8 billion) and agriculture (from R$ 30.8 billion to R$ 42.1 billion).

Translator: David Silberstein