| Area: 8,456,510 sq km (land), 55,455 sq km (water), 8,511,965 sq km (total)
Population: 191,908,598
Government: federal republic
Capital City: Brasilia
People: White 53.7%, Mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, Black 6.2%, Other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, Unspecified 0.7%
Languages: Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages
Religions: Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census)
Currency: Reais (R$)
Brazil is a country of continental size and potential and is now one of the fastest developing countries in the world with almost unimaginable potential. Brazil is the largest economy in South America and accounts for half of Latin Americas GDP - Sao Paulo alone generates equal economic drive to that of Argentina and Chile combined.
Brazil’s long term economic strategy centers on achieving sustainable growth through the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC), which was launched in early 2007. (PAC) centers on two major themes: investment in infrastructure and tax incentives to encourage private sector investment. In a major boost to this plan Brazil’s sovereign risk rating was upgraded from BB+ to BBB- by Standard & Poor’s (April 2008) and by Fitch Ratings (May 2008), a worthy accolade for this emerging economy.
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