This state in Northeast Brazil is more than accustomed to notching up excellent figures on its financial balance sheet and in 2022, the Ceará economy continues to stand out. The latest figures for Q2 reveal that the state outperformed Brazil by almost double on some accounts.
Quarterly GDP growth doubles Brazil
The latest economic report from IPECE, the Institute for Ceará economic research, shows that the state powered ahead of Brazil in Q2 this year. GDP growth in quarterly terms practically doubled the national increase, with Ceará experiencing a 2.39% uptick, compared to Brazil with a 1.2% increase.
The Ceará economy runs ahead of Brazil in accumulated and annual terms so far this year. For example, in the first half of 2022, Ceará grew by 2.89%, while Brazil saw a 2.5% increase. GDP growth over the last four quarters (Q3 2021 to Q2 2022) tells the same story, with a 3.1% rise in Ceará and 2.6% in Brazil as a whole.
Agriculture shining star in Q2
After a sluggish year in 2021, agricultural production in Ceará has enjoyed an excellent 2022. Growth in this sector of the economy reached 6.08% in Q2, almost four times the national average of -2.5%.
Corn, cassava and beans all experienced high growth, along with bananas and coconuts. The latest surge in production brings growth in agriculture to 4.72% over the last 12 months.
Good year for services
This sector is also showing solid results in 2022. Year-on-year growth in Q2 reached 3.75%, slightly below the previous growth when services increased by 4.45%.
The almost complete recovery of tourism lies behind the strong performance in services. IPECE highlighted the excellent growth in hospitality (up 24.1% in the year) and restaurants (up 24.4%). In July this year, Ceará registered the highest increase in the volume of tourism in the country.
Prediction for Ceará economy in 2022
Based on the latest results, the IPECE predicts that Ceará will experience 2.94% GDP growth this year. The figure is higher than that for Brazil (2.65%). It’s also considerably more than economic forecasts made in December last year when the IPECE believed the state would grow by just 1.25%.
