Brazil's 7 million housing deficit

In March of 2009 the Brazilian federal government pledged $15 billion to build 1 million homes in an effort to reduce the 7 million housing deficit Brazil is currently experiencing.

This is added to the $235 billion President Lula pledged in 2007 for infrastructure improvements. The private sector is also expected to invest in these projects which will result in job creation at a local level creating a pool of semi-skilled tradesmen, spurring on the economy. The housing program, according to Finance Minister Guido Mantega will add as much as 2 percentage points to GDP growth. The vision for these types of projects is that they will pull the lower classes out of poverty and go a long way to eliminating the slums in many Brazilian cities.

A worker on a plane production line for Embraer in Brazil. The company has doubled in size since the start of the decade. - New York Times