Bruno Bocchini
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Brazil's export performance in 2004 outpaced the global average. The country's sales abroad grew 32%, compared with an estimated 18.3% in overall world exports, according to a calculation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is the second year in a row in which Brazil's export growth rate has exceeded the global average.

According to the secretary of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Development, Ivan Ramalho, the country's better-than-average export growth in 2004 should increase Brazil's share of world trade.

"Until very recently, up to 2003, Brazil's share of world trade continued to be less than 1%. I believe that in 2004, even though we still lack the final world trade figures, Brazil, which exported US$ 96.5 billion, will have broken the 1% barrier, since world trade is unlikely to have exceeded US$ 9.6 trillion," he observes.

Foreign trade is also playing a bigger role in the domestic economy. According to a report prepared by the Secretariat of Foreign Trade, the country's economy has become more open, in terms of both exports and imports. The participation of exports in Brazil's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to have increased from 24.6% in 2003 to around 26.6% in 2004. In 1990, this figure amounted to 11%.

Translation: David Silberstein