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Brazil vs. Bolivia

Economy

BrazilBolivia
Economy - overview

Brazil is the eighth-largest economy in the world, but is recovering from a recession in 2015 and 2016 that ranks as the worst in the country's history. In 2017, Brazil`s GDP grew 1%, inflation fell to historic lows of 2.9%, and the Central Bank lowered benchmark interest rates from 13.75% in 2016 to 7%.

The economy has been negatively affected by multiple corruption scandals involving private companies and government officials, including the impeachment and conviction of Former President Dilma ROUSSEFF in August 2016. Sanctions against the firms involved - some of the largest in Brazil - have limited their business opportunities, producing a ripple effect on associated businesses and contractors but creating opportunities for foreign companies to step into what had been a closed market.

The succeeding TEMER administration has implemented a series of fiscal and structural reforms to restore credibility to government finances. Congress approved legislation in December 2016 to cap public spending. Government spending growth had pushed public debt to 73.7% of GDP at the end of 2017, up from over 50% in 2012. The government also boosted infrastructure projects, such as oil and natural gas auctions, in part to raise revenues. Other economic reforms, proposed in 2016, aim to reduce barriers to foreign investment, and to improve labor conditions. Policies to strengthen Brazil's workforce and industrial sector, such as local content requirements, have boosted employment, but at the expense of investment.

Brazil is a member of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), a trade bloc that includes Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay - Venezuela's membership in the organization was suspended In August 2017. After the Asian and Russian financial crises, Mercosur adopted a protectionist stance to guard against exposure to volatile foreign markets and it currently is negotiating Free Trade Agreements with the European Union and Canada.

Bolivia is a resource rich country with strong growth attributed to captive markets for natural gas exports - to Brazil and Argentina. However, the country remains one of the least developed countries in Latin America because of state-oriented policies that deter investment.

Following an economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms in the 1990s spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large Northern Hemisphere markets. In 2005-06, the government passed hydrocarbon laws that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company in exchange for a predetermined service fee; the laws engendered much public debate. High commodity prices between 2010 and 2014 sustained rapid growth and large trade surpluses with GDP growing 6.8% in 2013 and 5.4% in 2014. The global decline in oil prices that began in late 2014 exerted downward pressure on the price Bolivia receives for exported gas and resulted in lower GDP growth rates - 4.9% in 2015 and 4.3% in 2016 - and losses in government revenue as well as fiscal and trade deficits.

A lack of foreign investment in the key sectors of mining and hydrocarbons, along with conflict among social groups, pose challenges for the Bolivian economy. In 2015, President Evo MORALES expanded efforts to court international investment and boost Bolivia's energy production capacity. MORALES passed an investment law and promised not to nationalize additional industries in an effort to improve the investment climate. In early 2016, the Government of Bolivia approved the 2016-2020 National Economic and Social Development Plan aimed at maintaining growth of 5% and reducing poverty.

GDP (purchasing power parity)$3,092,216,000,000 (2019 est.)

$3,057,465,000,000 (2018 est.)

$3,017,715,000,000 (2017 est.)

note: data are in 2010 dollars
$100.445 billion (2019 est.)

$98.267 billion (2018 est.)

$94.285 billion (2017 est.)

note: data are in 2010 dollars
GDP - real growth rate1.13% (2019 est.)

1.2% (2018 est.)

1.62% (2017 est.)
2.22% (2019 est.)

4.23% (2018 est.)

4.19% (2017 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)$14,652 (2019 est.)

$14,596 (2018 est.)

$14,520 (2017 est.)

note: data are in 2010 dollars
$8,724 (2019 est.)

$8,656 (2018 est.)

$8,424 (2017 est.)

note: data are in 2010 dollars
GDP - composition by sectoragriculture: 6.6% (2017 est.)

industry: 20.7% (2017 est.)

services: 72.7% (2017 est.)
agriculture: 13.8% (2017 est.)

industry: 37.8% (2017 est.)

services: 48.2% (2017 est.)
Population below poverty line4.2% (2016 est.)

note: approximately 4% of the population are below the "extreme" poverty line
37.2% (2019 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage sharelowest 10%: 0.8%

highest 10%: 43.4% (2016 est.)
lowest 10%: 0.9%

highest 10%: 36.1% (2014 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)3.7% (2019 est.)

3.6% (2018 est.)

3.4% (2017 est.)
1.8% (2019 est.)

2.2% (2018 est.)

2.8% (2017 est.)
Labor force86.621 million (2020 est.)5.719 million (2016 est.)
Labor force - by occupationagriculture: 9.4%

industry: 32.1%

services: 58.5% (2017 est.)
agriculture: 29.4%

industry: 22%

services: 48.6% (2015 est.)
Unemployment rate11.93% (2019 est.)

12.26% (2018 est.)
4% (2017 est.)

4% (2016 est.)

note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
Distribution of family income - Gini index53.9 (2018 est.)

54 (2004)
42.2 (2018 est.)

57.9 (1999)
Budgetrevenues: 733.7 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 756.3 billion (2017 est.)
revenues: 15.09 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 18.02 billion (2017 est.)
Industriestextiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipmentmining, smelting, electricity, petroleum, food and beverages, handicrafts, clothing, jewelry
Industrial production growth rate0% (2017 est.)2.2% (2017 est.)
Agriculture - productssugar cane, soybeans, maize, milk, cassava, oranges, poultry, rice, beef, cottonsugar cane, soybeans, potatoes, maize, sorghum, rice, milk, plantains, poultry, bananas
Exports$291.452 billion (2019 est.)

$298.565 billion (2018 est.)

$286.935 billion (2017 est.)
$9.632 billion (2019 est.)

$9.81 billion (2018 est.)

$9.326 billion (2017 est.)
Exports - commoditiessoybeans, crude petroleum, iron, corn, wood pulp products (2019)natural gas, gold, zinc, soybean oil and soy products, tin, silver, lead (2019)
Exports - partnersChina 28%, United States 13% (2019)Argentina 16%, Brazil 15%, United Arab Emirates 12%, India 10%, United States 6%, South Korea 5%, Peru 5%, Colombia 5% (2019)
Imports$271.257 billion (2019 est.)

$268.237 billion (2018 est.)

$248.961 billion (2017 est.)
$10.142 billion (2019 est.)

$9.99 billion (2018 est.)

$9.8 billion (2017 est.)
Imports - commoditiesrefined petroleum, vehicle parts, crude petroleum, integrated circuits, pesticides (2019)cars, refined petroleum, delivery trucks, iron, buses (2019)
Imports - partnersChina 21%, United States 18%, Germany 6%, Argentina 6% (2019)Brazil 22%, Chile 15%, China 13%, Peru 11%, Argentina 8%, United States 7% (2017)
Debt - external$681.336 billion (2019 est.)

$660.693 billion (2018 est.)
$12.81 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$7.268 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
Exchange ratesreals (BRL) per US dollar -

5.12745 (2020 est.)

4.14915 (2019 est.)

3.862 (2018 est.)

3.3315 (2014 est.)

2.3535 (2013 est.)
bolivianos (BOB) per US dollar -

6.91 (2020 est.)

6.91 (2019 est.)

6.91 (2018 est.)

6.91 (2014 est.)

6.91 (2013 est.)
Fiscal yearcalendar yearcalendar year
Public debt84% of GDP (2017 est.)

78.4% of GDP (2016 est.)
49% of GDP (2017 est.)

44.9% of GDP (2016 est.)

note: data cover general government debt and includes debt instruments issued by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold$374 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$367.5 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$10.26 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$10.08 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
Current Account Balance-$50.927 billion (2019 est.)

-$41.54 billion (2018 est.)
-$2.375 billion (2017 est.)

-$1.932 billion (2016 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate)$1,877,942,000,000 (2019 est.)$40.822 billion (2019 est.)
Credit ratingsFitch rating: BB- (2018)

Moody's rating: Ba2 (2016)

Standard & Poors rating: BB- (2018)
Fitch rating: B (2020)

Moody's rating: B2 (2020)

Standard & Poors rating: B+ (2020)
Ease of Doing Business Index scoresOverall score: 59.1 (2020)

Starting a Business score: 81.3 (2020)

Trading score: 69.9 (2020)

Enforcement score: 64.1 (2020)
Overall score: 51.7 (2020)

Starting a Business score: 69.4 (2020)

Trading score: 71.6 (2020)

Enforcement score: 55.6 (2020)
Taxes and other revenues35.7% (of GDP) (2017 est.)39.9% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)-1.1% (of GDP) (2017 est.)-7.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24total: 27.8%

male: 24.1%

female: 32.6% (2019 est.)
total: 8.8%

male: 8.2%

female: 9.7% (2019 est.)
GDP - composition, by end usehousehold consumption: 63.4% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 20% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 15.6% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: -0.1% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 12.6% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -11.6% (2017 est.)
household consumption: 67.7% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 17% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 21.3% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 3.8% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 21.7% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -31.3% (2017 est.)
Gross national saving12.2% of GDP (2019 est.)

12.4% of GDP (2018 est.)

13.6% of GDP (2017 est.)
14.2% of GDP (2019 est.)

16.1% of GDP (2018 est.)

16.1% of GDP (2017 est.)

Source: CIA Factbook