A importância da taxa de câmbio e da substituição entre as poupanças interna e externa sobre o crescimento econômico do Brasil - 1995 a 2012

Abstract

This study investigated how the replacement of domestic savings by foreign savings for appreciation of exchange rates influenced the Brazilian economic growth from 1995 to 2012. After implementing the Real Plan, Brazil adopted a stabilization and growth strategy based on a wide use of foreign capital. At first, this strategy controlled the exchange rates in appreciated levels and contributed to the convergence of domestic and foreign prices. Nonetheless, it contributed, over time, to a loss of competitiveness of national industry, an increase of the federal debt and an excessive dependence on foreign savings. The conventional theory states that foreign savings may supplement insufficient domestic savings in order to increase investments in a country. However, econometric analyses with an error correction mechanism were performed, showing that the Brazilian domestic savings were negatively affected by the federal debt and foreign savings. Furthermore, they also showed that the GDP was negatively impacted by the exchange rate appreciation during the study period. Therefore, the results demonstrated that the reduction of external dependence is necessary to reduce the interest rates, avoid the substitution of savings and make more domestic resources available for investment. Additionally, they showed that depreciations on the exchange rates can contribute to a long term Brazilian economic growth.