Curitiba - Economy

Economy

Since it was declared the capital of the State of Paraná in 1853, the city has gone through several major urban planning projects to avoid uncontrolled growth and thus has become an international role model in dealing with such sensitive issues as transportation and the environment. The city is the second largest car manufacturer in the country, and its economy is based on industry, commerce and services. For that reason, Curitiba is considered by many specialists of the financial sector to be the best location for investors in Brazil. At the moment, the city receives more than two million tourists every year. Most arrive via Afonso Pena International Airport, where almost sixty thousand airplanes land annually.

According to IPEA data, the GDP in 2006 at real 32 billion, without recording activities in the agriculture and livestock farming (0.03%) sectors. Industry represented 34.13% and the commerce and service sectors 65.84%. Cidade Industrial de Curitiba, the industrial district of Curitiba, is home to many multinational industries, such as Nissan, Renault, Volkswagen, Audi, Volvo, HSBC, Siemens, ExxonMobil, Electrolux and Kraft Foods, as well as many well known national industries, such as Sadia, O Boticário, Positivo Informática. Curitiba's infrastructure makes bus travel fast and convenient, effectively creating demand for bus use in the same way that the infrastructure of traditional cities creates demand for private motor vehicles. In July 2001, Curitiba has become the first city in the country to receive the prize "Pole of Information Technology", granted by InfoExame magazine, because the performance of their companies of technology. According to the magazine, the number of companies of "Technology and Information Technology" based in Curitiba submitted in 2001 a turnover of US$ 1.2 billion, representing a growth of 21% over the previous year.

The city's 30-year economic growth rate is 7.1%, higher than the national average of 4.2%, and per capita income is 66% higher than the Brazilian average. Between 1975 and 1995, Curitiba's domestic product grew by some 75% more than the entire State of Paraná, and 48% more than Brazil as a whole. In 1994, tourism generated US$ 280 million, 4% of the city's net income. Curitiba has municipal health, education and day care networks, neighbourhood libraries shared by schools and citizens, and Citizenship Streets, where buildings provide essential public services, sports and cultural facilities near mass transportation terminals. At the Open University, residents can take courses in subjects such as mechanics, hair styling and environmental protection for a small fee. Policies for job creation and income generation also became part of the city's strategic planning in the 1990s, for the metropolitan area as well as the city.

Since 1990, the Municipal Housing Fund has been providing financial support to housing for lower income populations. After national housing finance collapsed in 1985, just as people from the countryside poured into Curitiba, the city's public housing program bought one of the few remaining large plots of land, "Novo Bairro" (New Neighborhood), as home for 50,000 families. While landowners built the houses themselves, each received a pair of trees and an hour's consultation with an architect to help them develop their plan. COHAB also built Technology Street, an avenue of 24 homes in the centre of Novo Bairro, each built using different construction techniques.

There are also six massive shopping malls in Curitiba shopping: Mueller, Estação, Curitiba, Crystal, Palladium and Park Barigüi. The Mueller is one of the best shopping malls, coupled with Crystal, which is a high class, haute-couture based mall. Curitiba and Estação are smaller, while less expensive kinds of shopping malls, and the newer one, Palladium, is one of the biggest. The Rua das Flores (Flower's Street) is the home of the majority of stores in Curitiba, and this is so for a very good reason. The area is pedestrianized, thus there are no cars around the centre. An essential element of Curitiba shopping is the Feira do Largo da Ordem, or Largo da Ordem Street Fair, where Paraná fashion, Curitiba gemstones, Brazil furniture Curitiba-made, Curitiba Brazil leather equipment, crafts, arts etc. can be found.

In 2008, according to IBGE the Curitiba´s nominal GDP was R$45,7 billion (or about of US$22,5 billion) (with R$25,934, or US$13,000, by nominal GDP per capita, about of US$5,000 more than Brazilian 2008 nominal GDP per capita), making it the fourth richest city in the country, after only Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the capital Brasilia (although nearly drawn with Belo Horizonte, with 2008 nominal GDP of R$45,5 billion). In the same year, the nominal GDP of the Curitiba metropolitan area was R$74,8 billion, or US$37,4 billion, the sixth largest metropolitan GDP in Brazil.