Gross Domestic Product in 2006 (GDP): R$ 311.175 (current value)
According to data from the IBGE (Brazil Institute of Geography and Statistic) survey, “Regional Accounts of Brazil from 2002 to 2006 series", in the Northeast Region, approximately 49 % of the local authorities presented predominance of the sector of services with great participation of the public administration. In 66% of the activity, public administration contributed more than 35% of GDP.
The farming sector is a distinction in the Midwest of Maranhão, turned, mainly for the production of rice and soy, and for creation of bovine cattle. In the municipalities of Açailandia, Bom Jardim and Novo Centro in Maranhão, the extraction from vegetable coal was standing out. The large grain production in western Bahia, particularly soybeans and herbaceous cotton, led the agricultural sector to present a great importance in the region. The irrigated horticulture in the valley of San Francisco stood out with the cultivation of grapes, and Petrolina (Pernambuco) assumed the leadership in the production of grapes in Brazil. In the coast of the Bahia, Camaçari, with great weight in the petrochemical industry of the oil and automotive, continue to occupy the first position in the ranking of the industrial activity of the State, though in 2006 it has lost participation regarding 2005. In Ceará, the highlight was the shoe industry, in Sobral, and textiles and clothing, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza.
In 2006, the income produced by only four counties corresponded to approximately 25 % of the whole income and to 14,8 % of the population of the Northeast Region. That same year, note that the 802 municipalities that belonged to the last two income groups, corresponding to 44.7% of the municipalities in this region accounted for 5% of GDP and concentrated 11.2% of the population. These numbers show the concentration of the internal generation of the income and also of the space diffusion in the production of the wealth.
Of the 1793 cities in the Northeast analyzed in 2006, Salvador led the ranking with the largest GDP, which amounted to R$ 24 billion. In second place came Fortaleza, with R$ 22.5 billion, followed by Recife, with a GDP of approximately R$ 18.3 million. In fourth place is listed São Luís, with R$ 11.2 billion, ahead of Camaçari, na Bahia, which in 2006 had a GDP of R$ 9.5 billion. In sixth place comes Natal (R$ 7.5 billion), followed by Maceió (R$ 6.9 billion), São Francisco do Conde, na Bahia (R$ 6.6 billion), Teresina (U.S. $ 6 billion) and João Pessoa (U.S. $ 5.9 billion). According to IBGE, these ten cities represented in 2006, 38.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the Northeast.
