Should we be optimistic about the Brazilian economy?

Brazil grew by 3.0% in 2022 and by 3.1% in 2023. We can therefore assume that Brazil has returned to fairly strong growth. To determine whether or not we should be optimistic about the Brazilian economy, we look at: The investment rate and the savings-investment equilibrium; Productivity gains and inflation; The working-age population; The infrastructure situation; The geographical structure of foreign trade, and in particular the weight of China and Russia in Brazil's exports and imports; The weight and growth of agricultural production, manufacturing industry, agri-food industry and construction and services; Inequality, human development (HDI), the education system; Debt. We conclude that the most serious obstacles to Brazil's development are: Insufficient savings and investment; Inflation and restrictive monetary policy; Inadequate infrastructure; The small, declining weight of manufacturing industry and construction in GDP; Very high income inequality; Very high public debt, external debt and fiscal deficits. The only positive points are the young labour force and the large size and strong growth of agriculture and the agri-food industry.