Brazil's emergence at the regional export leader in services: a case specialization in business services

Abstract

Brazil has been the most dynamic country of Latin America and the Caribbean in global services trade in the 1990s and 2000s, but compared to other emerging economies elsewhere it is outperformed by China and India. Brazil's rising share in global services trade reflects mostly its increase in the world trade of other services, which include all services except transport and tourism. Brazilian exports of "other services" are concentrated in architecturalengineering and real estate services. In terms of destinations, the US market accounts for about one half and the European Union for one quarter in total exports, while Latin America is a small but growing export destination. New types of exports are gaining importance, for example financial and legal services. Brazil's dynamic performance is associated with three, interrelated, trends. The first is the internationalization of Brazilian companies, which increases the demand for integrated support services such as finance, information technology and logistics. The second is the rise of inward foreign direct investment in the service sector, which expands Brazil's export capacity. Third, Brazilian investment abroad (in particular within the region) in the service sector has also grown rapidly. The future expansion of service exports requires above all a set of horizontal policies directed at enhancing the qualification of workers, the telecom infrastructure and a legal and regulatory system that favors investment and international trade.""