Brazil overtakes British economy

Overtaking the UK, Brazil is the world's sixth largest economy, says the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).

The BBC reports:
"A report based on International Monetary Fund data published earlier this year also said the Brazilian economy would overtake the UK in 2011.


Brazil has a population of about 200 million, more than three times the population of the UK.


Brazil's economy grew by 7.5% last year, but the government has cut its growth forecast for 2011 to 3.5% after the economy ground to a halt in the third quarter, with analysts blaming the country's high interest rates and the worsening situation in the eurozone.

And although Brazil currently sells more to China than it imports, Brazilian manufacturers have complained that their industries are being affected by cheap mass-produced goods from the Asian giant.

The CEBR also said that Russia moved up one spot in its league table to ninth in 2011, and predicted that it would rise to fourth spot by 2020.

It predicted that India, the world's 10th biggest economy in 2011, would become the fifth largest by 2020.

And it said European countries would drop down the table, with Germany falling from fourth in 2011 to seventh in 2020, the UK from seventh to eighth, and France from fifth to ninth."

Predicting that the UK economy would overtake France by 2016, CEBR said that Asian countries were moving up in its latest World Economic League Table with the European economies falling back.