SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s economy grew 2.9% in 2023, beating expectations in the first year of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration, a government statistics agency said Friday.
The numbers released by IBGE shocked many economists, whose overall forecast early last year was for 2023 growth to be just 0.8%.
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Brazil’s economy grew by 3% in 2022, thanks in part to government spending programs pushed by then-President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost re-election.
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Credit rating agency Austin Ratings said Brazil’s economy is now the ninth largest in the world, based on preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) figures released on Friday. Last year’s GDP reached $2.17 trillion, putting the South American country ahead of Canada and Russia, the report said.
Brazil’s record soybean and corn production boosted the overall performance, Brazil’s Statistics Institute said.
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“Agriculture accounted for about one-third of Brazil’s economic growth last year,” IBGE coordinator Rebecca Parris said in a statement.
Following the financial results, the government predicted that the growth rate in 2024 would be 2.2%, which is also expected to exceed market expectations. Lula said in a public forum that he hoped to push that figure above 3% this year by attracting more foreign investment into Brazil.
