Sao Paulo [Brazil], March 2: Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) reached US$2.17 trillion in 2023, placing the South American nation ahead of Canada and Russia, according to credit rating agency Austin Ratings.
In a statement carried by The Associated Press (AP), Austin Ratings said Brazil's economy is now the ninth biggest in the world, based on the preliminary GDP numbers announced Friday.
The South American nation's economy grew 2.9 percent in 2023, beating expectations in the first year of the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to figures released by the government statistics institute Friday.
The number announced by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) impressed many economists, whose overall forecast early last year was for only 0.8 percent growth in 2023.
The Brazilian statistics agency said Brazil's record production of soybeans and corn helped the overall results.
"Agriculture represented about a third of all the growth of Brazil's economy last year," Rebeca Palis, a coordinator at IBGE, said in a statement.
The government said after the results that it expects 2024 growth to be at 2.2 percent, again above market expectations. Lula has said in public forums he wants to push the number above 3 percent this year by drawing more foreign investment to Brazil.
Source: Emirates News Agency