Stênio Ribeiro Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – Brazilian exports closed out 2010 at a historic high of almost $200 billion (the previous record was in 2008, before the Great Recession). During the Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva administration, Brazilian exports rose no less than 330% (up from $60.4 billion in 2002).
However, imports rose even more: going from $47.3 billion in 2002, to $175.9 billion in 2010 – for an increase of a whooping 390%.
“There is no denying that Brazil has achieved significant gains in international trade,” says the vice president of the Brazilian Foreign Trade Association (“AEB”), Fabio Martins. But he points out that more could have been done if “excessive red tape and controls” did not exist, along with what he calls an “inadequate tax structure.” Martins also complaints about Brazil's deficient infrastructure and the devaluation of the dollar against the real.
Speaking for the government, the secretary of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Welber Barral, admits that the exchange rate has reduced price competitivity of Brazilian goods on the international market. But he says that if roads and ports had been upgraded and logistics improved, the effects of the devaluated dollar would be less pronounced. He said the Ministry of Finance was forced to increase the tax on financial transactions (“IOF”) due to pressure on the Brazilian currency.

Barral points out that exports grew faster than imports until 2006, when Brazil had a record trade surplus of almost $46.5 billion (the surplus this year is forecast to reach $17 billion).
In 2008, says Barral, Brazil’s trade surplus dropped sharply to slightly less than $25 billion, while the current account deficit surged to $28 billion. The current account deficit is expected to have reached $50 billion in 2010. Meanwhile, market analysts, in this week’s Central Bank survey of 100 financial insitutions (the Focus report), estimate that the current account deficit will rise to $69 billion in 2011, although Martins of AEB says it will be less: $60 billion).
 “Foreign trade is a determining factor in achieving sustainable economic and social development in Brazil,” says Martins, and as such, he concludes, there is a clear need for a permanent and timely foreign policy that maximizes export competitivity.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English
 Link - Importações tiveram maior ritmo de crescimento que exportações no governo Lula