Brazil's economy lifting rich and poor

BRASILIA, Brazil, July 31 (UPI) -- Brazil's growing economy is lifting the country's rich and poor and shows signs of sustainability, analysts said.

While the economy grew 5.4 percent in 2007, the income gap between the rich and poor has shrunk since 2001, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Incomes among Brazil's richest 10 percent rose by 7 percent from 2001 to 2006, the Times reported. In the same period, incomes of the bottom 10 percent rose 58 percent, the director of the Center for Social Policies Marcelo Cortes Neri said.

The middle class is growing. In June, 100 million Brazilians had credit cards, a 17-percent rise from the year before, the Times reported.

Analysts see agricultural exports as the cornerstone of the economy. But, Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, estimated in November its offshore oilfield Tupi held 5 billion to 8 billion barrels of oil.

Petrobras said the oilfield should produce 100,000 barrels a day by 2010, estimating that would grow to 1 million barrels a day by 2020.