Brazil’s economy now 7th-largest in world

Brazil now boasts the seventh-largest economy in the world, Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega said today. New statistics show the country’s 7.5 percent GDP growth in 2010 was the highest since 1986. (In terms of land area and population, Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest country.) Last year’s economic growth means Brazil’s economy now ranks above those of France and the UK. While all this is good news, economists are quick to point out that Brazil doesn’t have the infrastructure to sustain this kind of growth without causing problems like inflation. In interviews with Globo News, IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn and other economic experts warned of the dangers of an overheating economy. President Dilma Rousseff addressed those fears by reiterating that the economy will not keep growing at that rate. This year and next, she said she expects Brazil’s economy to grow around 4.5 percent.