The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Monday urged Brazil to speed up liberalisation of its economy, particularly in financial services, saying it would help sustain growth. In a report on Latin America's largest country, the WTO noted Brazil had made moves to liberalise and increase the "transparency" of its trade policy since its last review in 2000.
"Nevertheless, further steps appear to be required to accelerate and ensure the sustainability of (economic) growth," it said.
The Geneva-based trade body noted that Brazil faced the long-term challenge of increasing its per capita economic output, which had stagnated in real terms between 1999 and 2003.
Although Brazil's average tariff on goods from fellow WTO states had fallen from 13.7 percent to 10.4 percent over the period under review, import barriers were still hindering the access of Brazilian consumers and producers to some of the world's most competitive goods, the WTO warned.
Manufacturing performance was mixed, with some sectors "world class producers" while others had sought protection from imports, with beverages, transport equipment, clothing and footwear amongst the latter.
Furthermore, specific support programmes, particularly financing, have been granted to the automobile, shipbuilding and aircraft industries, it added.