Economy of Brazil compared to only US$2 billion per year last decade, remarkable growth. The agricultural sector, locally called the "agronegócio" (agro-business), has also been remarkably dynamic: for two decades this sector has kept Brazil among the most highly productive countries in areas related to the rural sector. The agricultural sector and the mining sector also supported trade surpluses which allowed for massive currency gains (rebound) and external debt paydown. Due to a downturn in Western economies, Brazil found itself in 2010 trying to halt the appreciation of the real. Data from the Asian Development Bank and the Tax Justice Network show the
History of the Jews in Brazil The Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil. There have been Jews in what is now Brazil since the first Portuguese arrived in the country in 1500, notably Mestre João and Gaspar da Gama who arrived in the first ships. A number of Sephardic Jews immigrated to Brazil during its early settlements. They were known as "New Christians" ("Conversos" or "Marranos" — Jews obliged to convert to Roman Catholicism by the Portuguese crown). The Jews from Portugal avoided immigrating to Brazil, because they would also be persecuted by the Inquisition. Most of