Brazil expanded at an annualized 5% in first quarter

Brazil's first quarter GDP grew 1.3% compared to the previous quarter – an annualized rate of over 5% – and 4.2% against the first quarter of 2010 revealed on Friday the Brazilian government.

According to disclosed numbers, the farming segment was one of the top responsible for the GDP figures in the first trimester, with a growth of 3.3%, followed by the industrial segment with a 2.2% increase in relation to the last trimester of 2010.

According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), in the first quarter of 2011, the investment level resumed its growth registering an expansion of 1.2%. Thus, in the first three months of the year, the rate of investments reached 18.4% of the GDP a superior rate than the registered during the same period of 2009 (16.3%) and 2010 (18.2%), but slightly inferior to the 2008 (of 18.5%).

Moreover, the saving rate for the first quarter represented 15.8% of the GDP.

Source: MercoPress