Piauí was the Brazilian state with the highest real growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008 (8.8%), though it continued contributing little to the national GDP (0.6%).

The growth was mainly due to the positive results of agriculture, with a volume of 62.1%, incremented by the production of soybean. Ceará and Goiás followed the same trend, with changes of 8.5% and 8%, respectively, but with a higher contribution to GDP (2% and 2.5%). The lowest rates were registered in Sergipe (2.6%), Rio Grande do Sul (2.7%) and Amapá (2.9%).

Despite the growth, Piauí held, in 2008, the lowest Brazilian per capita GDP: R$ 5,372.56, well below the national average (R$ 15,989.75), whereas the Federal District registered a per capita GDP above R$ 45 thousand, the highest one.

These are data from the Regional Accounts of Brazil 2004-2008, which also revealed that the Southeast region continues decreasing its contribution to GDP. The decrease was of 0.4 percentage points, a contraction in relation to 2007. In six years, the drop has been of 0.7 percentage points. As for the South, despite the decrease of 0.3 percentage points in the last six years, the contribution was stable in relation to the previous year, around 16.6%. The other regions have increased their contributions since 2002.

However, the concentration is still strong in Brazil, as, in 2008, eight states accounted for almost 80% of the national GDP. In that year, the contribution of São Paulo was 33%, but it has registered a downward trend since 1995, when it was approximately of 37%. Despite that, the state registered a record GDP, surpassing, for the first time, the mark of R$ 1 trillion. Since the beginning of the series, the first six states in the ranking remained in their positions. However, in 2008 Santa Catarina surpassed Bahia, taking the sixth position. 

The Southeast Region keeps downward trend in 2008

The North, Central-West and Northeast regions have increased their contributions to GDP since 2002. The first two regions advanced 0.4 percentage points, each, in the period, while the last one grew 0.1 percentage points. South and Southeast lost 0.3 percentage points and 0.7 percentage points of contribution, respectively.

The results of 2008 show that the Southeast region decreased its contribution in 0.4 percentage points, contracting in relation to 2007. North and Central-West advanced 0.1 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points, respectively, and Northeast and South remained stable in relation to 2007.

The increase in the North region was mainly due to the mineral quarrying industry of Pará. In the case of Northeast, the states of Maranhão, Piauí and Ceará grew compared with 2007. In the Southeast region, the loss of 0.8 percentage points of contribution from São Paulo explains the reduction in the contribution of the region. In the South region, Santa Catarina, with a good performance in the three major sectors (agriculture, industry and services), offset the loss in the contribution from Paraná between 2007 and 2008. Conversely, Rio Grande do Sul remained on the same level. In the Central-West region, all states contributed to the increase of 0.3 percentage points, specially, Mato Grosso and the Federal District, the first one due to the agricultural prices and the second one due to the good performance of services.

Eight states concentrate almost 80% of the GDP

Eight states (SP, RJ, MG, RS, PR, SC, BA and DF) continued leading the contribution to the GDP of the country, concentrating 78.2% of the economy. However, they lost 1.5 percentage points compared with 2002, as they accounted for 79.7% in the beginning of the series. São Paulo had the highest loss, 1.5 percentage points. However, its GDP surpassed, for the first time in 2008, the mark of R$ 1 trillion (R$1,003,016 million).

The reduction of the contribution from São Paulo to the Brazilian GDP between 2007 and 2008 was due to the drop of the contribution from its agriculture. There was a reduction in the prices of sugar cane and orange, which accounted for 48.6% of the agriculture of São Paulo in 2007 and for 40.5% in 2008. Moreover, the manufacturing industry, which lost 0.4 percentage points in the Brazilian economy (17.0% in 2007 to 16.6% in 2008), directly impacted the state, which accounted for 44% of this activity. The same occurred with the service of national financial intermediation, which, between 2007 and 2008, lost 0.9 percentage points of contribution to the total Brazilian economy (from 7.7% in 2007 to 6.8% in 2008), when São Paulo accounted for 51% of this activity. 

In Northeast, public administration approximately accounts for 22% of the economy of the states in the series.

Trade, another important activity for the northeastern economies, gained 1.4 percentage points in contribution, when one observes the spatial distribution of the activity between the regions in the first and last years of the series. 

Maranhão registered an increase of 0.4 percentage points in the contribution to the Brazilian GDP between 1995 and 2008, due to the industrial activity, especially quarrying and mining and manufacturing, as well as to the commercial activity. As for Bahia, with an increase of 0.3 percentage points in GDP, its growth was due to the investments in the petrochemical and automobile industries, in the manufacturing industry; and due to the rise in commercial activities and public administration, in services.

Southeast decreased its contribution to the Brazilian GDP by 3.1 percentage points . That can be explained by the loss in the contribution from São Paulo that, alone, accounted for -4.2 percentage points in 2008 when compared with 1995. São Paulo’s manufacturing industry, which accounted for 43.7% of the total activity in 2008, lost 5.0 percentage points in its contribution between 1995 and 2008, due to regional investments, fiscal war and search for less expensive labor force in other Federation Units. However, one cannot conclude that there was a massive industrial migration, as a redistribution movement inside the state was also observed.

Among the states in the South, only Rio Grande do Sul lost contribution to the GDP between 1995 and 2008 (-0.5 percentage points ), though Paraná fell 0.1 percentage points between 2002 and 2008 due to the extreme drought in the region between 2004 and 2006. That loss was not enough to offset the gain of 0.3 percentage points between 1995 and 2002. Santa Catarina gained in contribution both in 1995-2002 and in 2002-2008, 0.3 percentage points in each period.

The loss in contribution from Rio Grande do Sul has happened since 2004 due to extreme droughts that lasted for three years. The result of the agricultural and livestock farming sector affected the other economic activities, as its manufacturing industry is closely related with the agricultural sector. Rio Grande do Sul’ s agricultural activity lost 0.1 percentage points of contribution to the national activity in all the series. Between 2002 and 2008 the loss was of 1.0 percentage points. Moreover, Rio Grande do Sul’s manufacturing industry, which accounted for 19.9% of the state’s economy in 2008 against 24.5% in 1995, lost 1.4 percentage points in contribution to the national activity between 1995 and 2008.

The third highest gain in contribution between 1995 and 2008 was from Central-West.

Mato Grosso was a highlight among the Brazilian states, with an increase of 0.7 percentage points. Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul also expanded their contributions, gaining 0.4 percentage points and 0.2 percentage points, respectively, while the Federal District lost -0.5 percentage points between 1995 and 2008. The expansion of the agricultural borders and movement of industrial plants explain the gain in the contribution from Mato Grosso and Goiás.

In North, the highest contributors to the increase in representation between 1995 and 2008 were:

Pará (0.37 percentage points), Tocantins (0.17 percentage points), Rondônia (0.15 percentage points), Amazonas (0.12 percentage points) and Roraima (0.02 percentage points). Only Acre (0.05 percentage points) and Amapá (0.01 percentage points) almost did not increase in their contributions in the period.

Mato Grosso rose by 128.4% between 1995 and 2008

In the accumulated indicator of the 1995-2008 series, Mato Grosso, with a rate of 128.4%, was the state to increase the most in real terms, almost three times the national average growth (47%). By observing the 1995-2002 and 2002-2008 periods, only in the second the state, with a 46% rate, was surpassed by Tocantins, which had the highest rate of growth, 47%.

Between 2002 and 2008, Mato Grosso dropped 4.6% in GDP volume between 2005 and 2006, influenced by the drop in volume of 17.9% of the agricultural activity, as this activity accounted for 32% of its economy in 2005. That fall was caused by excessive rains, which damaged its main crops, and by the so-called Asian rust, which, in turn, led to a vazio sanitário in soybean production – total absence of live plants in the crop for 90 days. The currency devaluation also contributed to the loss in the aggregated value, as 60% of the state’s production was for exports (soybean, cotton and wheat). In the following years, agriculture recovered and the state closed 2007 and 2008 with a real expansion of 11.3% in 2007 and of 7.9% in 2008.

The second position in the 1995-2008 series was occupied by Amazonas, which grew 104.9%, approximately 82% of Mato Grosso’s growth. The state has, on average, 30% of its economy supported by the manufacturing industry and, throughout the series, the activity rose by 86% in real terms in 1995-2002 and 50.3% in 2002-2008, totaling a growth of 174.9%.

Rio Grande do Sul lost approximately 0.6 percentage points in the series, followed by Rio de Janeiro (0.3 percentage points), Paraná and Bahia (0.1 percentage points). The states to gain in contribution were Minas Gerais (0.7 percentage points), Santa Catarina (0.3 percentage points) and Federal District (0.1 percentage points).

In 2008, Santa Catarina and Bahia exchanged positions. Occupying the sixth position since 2002, Bahia lost its position to Santa Catarina, traditionally the seventh state of the ranking. The contraction of the contribution from Bahia was directly influenced by the reduction of the coke and petroleum refinement industry, due to the increase of 34% in the price of the petroleum barrel, its main producer good, between 2007 and 2008. There was also a reduction in the state’s revenue from the Industrial Production Tax (IPI), due to stops in production, as well as a reduction in the tax rate and an increase in the fiscal incentives for the carmakers of Northeast and Central-West in 2008.

The other 19 states increased their contribution to GDP throughout the series, from 20.3% in 2002 to 21.8% in 2008, a total advance of 1.5 percentage points in the period.

GDP from Piauí grows 8.8%, the best result of 2008

With a rate of 8.8%, Piauí was the state with the best result of 2008, surpassing the national average, 5.2%, and the average of Northeast, 5.5%. The GDP of the state accounted, in that year, for 0.6% of the GDP, a gain of 0.1 percentage points compared with 2007. The good results of Piauí in 2008 were mainly due to agriculture, which accounted for 7.3% of the economy of the state against 4.5% in 2007, covering 1.1% of the national agriculture in 2008 against 0.6% in 2007, a growth of 62.1% in real terms. The main contributor to that scenario was the soybean activity, which registered a real growth of 546% in its aggregated value, a reflection of the highest productivity of the country in 2008 (3,231 kg/ha).

Ceará’s GDP had the second highest growth in volume in 2008, 8.5%, a value of R$ 60.1 billion, accounting for 2.0% of the Brazilian GDP.

That was mainly due to agriculture, which had a real growth of 25.5% compared with 2007. The regular climate conditions benefited the production of cereals, which increased by 136% compared with the previous year, when there was a drop of -64%.

Federal District has a per capita GDP three times higher than the Brazilian one

In 2008, eight states registered a per capita GDP above the Brazilian average, which was R$ 15,989.75: Federal District, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Mato Grosso The Federal District, the highest per capita GDP in Brazil, R$ 45,977.59, accounted for almost three times the Brazilian average and almost the double of São Paulo’s average, R$ 24,456.86, the second highest one. Among the states with a per capita GDP lower than the national average, Piauí, with R$ 5,372.56, recorded the lowest value, approximately 30% of the Brazilian value. Maranhão registered the second lowest per capita GDP, R$ 6,103.66. Despite being the 16^th highest Brazilian GDP in 2008, it has the tenth highest Brazilian population.

Northeast increases its contribution to GDP between 1995 and 2008

In the 1995-2008 series, Northeast was the region that most increased its contribution to the Brazilian GDP, followed by North, Central-West and South, while Southeast decreased its contribution.

Despite the increase of 1.1 percentage points in contribution in the period, the advance in Northeast was concentrated between 1995 and 2002 (0.9 percentage points), as, between 2002 and 2008, it just gained 0.1 percentage points.

North and Central-West, conversely, gained in both periods: 0.5 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points for the first one and 0.4 percentage points in both periods for the second one. South gained 0.7 percentage points between 1995 and 2002 and lost 0.3 percentage points between 2002 and 2008, while Southeast registered the highest drop in contribution in the first period (-2.4 percentage points) in relation to the second one (-0.7 percentage points).