Despite slightly lower growth than expected, Brazil is now the world's sixth largest economy, after overtaking the UK last year. Brazil's economy grew by 2.7 percent in 2011, a little below expectations but still well ahead of the UK's 0.8 percent growth and enough to put Brazil in sixth spot, according to official figures. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega says his country's economy now values USD 2.5 trillion, but he adds that the important news for Brazil is healthy growth, rather than rankings.

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the top 10 economies are now the US, China, Japan, Germany, France, Brazil, UK, Italy, Russia and India. More changes are expected in the coming years. China's economy is universally predicted to outstrip the US, the question being when rather than if. France could be Brazil's next European scalp, with only a small gap between the two and India is also expected to climb in the coming years as emerging markets far outpace the developed world's growth.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com