In 2012 Brazil is the joint sixth biggest (together with the UK) global economy, and by 2016 the IMF and World Economic Outlook forecast that Brazil will have left the UK behind, and will be the world’s fifth largest economy with a GDP of $3.1Tn/$3.1Trillion Brazil’s growth rate over the past decade has been staggering. In 2000 Brazilian GDP was a mere $0.6Tn, a third the output of the UK, and ranking the country globally at number ten.
In 2008, the world changed and so did the world’s population’s perspective, there was a strange, silent, almost undetected polar shift in popular understanding of the investment world around them…what was it? For many, both the risks and reward potential of investing in the “Western” versus “emerging” worlds were turned on their heads! Previously, the US, Europe and UK was viewed by most as the safest environment to keep your money. You were unlikely to get a double digit return, but not wanting to risk ones life savings, these were viewed as the most assured way to maintain your wealth, hard earned money that you had battled for. What happened? What changed? In short, the unthinkable!
