The Economy in the Eighties and the Debt Crisis

Abstract

In terms of economic development, the eighties have proved fruitless to Brazil. Table 4.1 compares the average rate of growth of real GDP with previous periods. Sectoral data related to industrial and agricultural product are also included. One can easily observe, from lines (1), (2) and (3), the sharp deterioration of product rates of growth in the eighties. Growth of industrial product, which averaged 7.0 per cent in the sixties and 9.4 per cent in the seventies, was reduced to an average increase of 1.4 per cent between 1980 and 1988. At the same time, the average annual increase in agricultural production declined from 4.2 per cent in the last two decades (2.9 per cent in the sixties and 5.5 per cent in the seventies) to 2.6 per cent in the eighties. Following this trend, real GDP growth displayed a very poor average rate of increase of 2.3 per cent per year. This is quite low when compared to the 5.9 per cent in the sixties or the 8.7 per cent in the seventies. If we take a longer period for purpose of comparisons, the conclusion remains the same. Brazilian GDP growth averaged 6.2 per cent between 1920 and 1980, and 7.1 per cent between 1950 and 1980.