Brazil now world's 6th largest economy, says think tank

AFP - Brazil has overtaken Britain as the world's sixth largest economy, a London-based research group said Monday.

In its latest World Economic League Table, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said Asian countries were moving up while European countries were slipping down.

CEBR chief executive Douglas McWilliams told BBC radio that Brazil's advance was part of a wider trend.

"I think it's part of the big economic change, where not only are we seeing a shift from the west to the east, but we're also seeing that countries that produce vital commodities -- food and energy and things like that -- are doing very well and they're gradually climbing up the economic league table," he said.

Brazil's population of about 200 million is more than three times that of Britain.

The Brazilian economy grew 7.5 percent in 2010, but the government has cut its growth projections to 3.5 percent for this year after the economy slowed in the third quarter.

The CEBR also predicted that the British economy would overtake France -- ranked fifth this year -- by 2016 and it said India, the world's 10th biggest economy in 2011, would move up to fifth place by 2020.

It says the US economy is the biggest, followed by China, Japan and Germany.