The Fiesp (São Paulo State Industry Federation)) and the Ciesp (São Paulo State Industries Center), following the announcement that Brazil has grown a mere 0.5% in the second quarter when compared to the first quarter, released their revised GDP forecast for the year.
Frustrated with the new data coming from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the representatives of the Brazilian industry have lowered their expectations for growth from 3.5% to between 2.5% and 3%.
The entities called the 2.2% GDP growth in the first semester "mediocre and below the most pessimistic forecasts".
Commenting on the declaration of Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, that Brazil might still have a 4% GDP growth this year, Paulo Francini, director of Fiesp’s Researches and Economic Department told reporters, "A 4% GDP is a downright delusion, something that does not exist."
As for the industrial GDP, Fiesp has revised its forecast to 2% from the 2.9% to 3.9% it had projected earlier.
For Ciesp the global GDP should now reach 3% while it had previously forecasted that it would be between 3.5% and 4%. "Any side we look there is nothing that promises industrial growth," said Boris Tabacof, Ciesp’s economics department director.
Among the 28 emerging and developed countries that have already released information on the second quarter GDP, Brazil comes in last place, based in data compiled by The Economist magazine.
According to the IBGE, Brazil’s GDP grew 1.2% when compared to the same period last year and 0.5% in relation to this year’s first quarter.
South Africa and Hungary, both with a 3.6% growth in the second quarter, are the closest to Brazil’s poor performance. Still, South Africa and Hungary have grown three times as much as Brazil.
China, on the other hand, grew 11.3% in the second quarter when compared to the same period last year.
When placed side by side with developed countries, Brazil is also the last one. Brazil’s 1.2% growth is smaller than that of the 13 developed nations that have already released their second quarter numbers.
With a 1.5% growth rate for comparable period, Italy is the one that comes closer to the Brazilian poor showing. The United States had a 2.9% growth in the same time period.