Brazil is well prepared to weather a US recession due to diversified export markets, a thriving domestic economy and the elimination of foreign debt, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday.
"We're going to transform this country into a great economy and a great nation," he said on his weekly radio programme.
Latin America's largest economy is in the midst of a prolonged boom due to high global demand for from Brazilian ethanol, iron ore and agricultural products and gross domestic product will expand at least five per cent annually through 2010, Silva predicted.
Frenzied domestic consumption of big ticket items like homes and cars will continue, Silva said. Brazil has a huge internal market of nearly 190 million consumers.
"People are buying more and exports are growing because we don't depend on the United States and Europe alone," Silva said. "Now we're exporting to many more countries around the world, and this leaves us calm in the face of an American crisis."
He praised his own administration for ending the nation's debt crisis. Brazil emerged last week as a net foreign creditor for the first time in history.
The nation's traditionally mammoth debt, long a drag on growth, "Was built over a period of many years by the mistakes of other administrations, mistakes that we fixed," Silva said.
Silva said last week that Brazil's success in eliminating its external debt means that the country can now use fresh debt to improve crumbling infrastructure and boost employment.
He was expected to announce 11.3 billion reals (US$6.6 billion, euro4.5 billion) in new funding for social programmes to lift two million Brazilians out of poverty.
Underlying the boom is the high global demand for Brazil's vast natural resources.
The country is the planet's top exporter of beef, chicken, ethanol, iron ore, sugar, coffee and orange juice; and comes a close second to the United States for soy exports.
Two major offshore finds by state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA in the last three months could turn Brazil into an oil and natural gas exporter and a prospective member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
- AP
