GENERAL
Official Name	Federative Republic of Brazil
Capital	Brasilia
Language	Portuguese
Currency	Real ($R) (R$1 = A$ 1.00 @ 12/2000
Style of Government	Presidential Republic
President	H.E. Dr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Administrative Divisions	26 states plus 1 federal district
DEMOGRAPHICS
Area	8.5 million square kilometres
Population	157.1 million (1996 Census) 168 million (1998 estimate) 78% urban
Life expectancy	64.36 years
Population density	18.45 persons per sq. km.

POPULATION CENTRES (source: IBGE)
1995	Population in mill (City)	Population in mill (Metropolitan area)
São Paulo	9.93	15.8
Rio de Janeiro	5.58	10.0
Belo Horizonte	2.08	3.6
Salvador	2.22	2.6
Fortaleza	1.88	2.5
Brasilia	1.71	2.5

ECONOMY (Source: MICT/SECEX)
Gross Domestic Product	US$ 775 billion   (1998)
Per Capita GDP	US$ 4,690
GDP Growth rate	0.8%  (1998)   (-0.5% est. 1999)
Unemployment rate	6.4%  (1998)
Consumer Price Index	7.8%  (4/99 - annual)
Foreign currency reserves	US$ 44.5 billion  (04/99)
Foreign debt	US$ 240 billion  (04/99)
Total foreign equity investment	US$ 165 billion  (1996)
Australian equity investment	US$ 248 million  (1996)
Net Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR)	7.7%  (12/98)
Brazil's net value	US$ 3.1 trillion  (est. 1998)