UPDATE 1-Brazil GDP to grow 1 pct in '09, gain steam ahead

Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:06am EDT
* Finance minister sees 2009 GDP growth around 1 percent
* Economy seen gaining steam in 2010, 2011
* Brazil may adopt new measures to stoke growth (Adds credit by public banks, finance minister comments)
SAO PAULO, June 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's economy should post growth of around 1 percent in 2009 and gain steam in the coming years as the country emerges faster and quicker than other nations from the downturn in global markets, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Thursday.
The government will continue to use public banks to boost credit in the financial system, particularly loans to small- and medium-sized companies in a bid to stoke growth, he said.
Federally owned lenders such as Banco do Brasil (BBAS3.SA) and Caixa Economica Federal have expanded their loan portfolios at a faster pace than private-sector firms in recent months as the government sought to limit the effects of a global credit crunch in Brazil's economy.
"GDP growth in 2009 will be positive, but weak," Mantega said at a seminar. "New measures need to be taken" to boost growth, he said without elaborating.
Gross domestic product should expand 4 percent in 2010 and grow faster in 2011, when it is expected to rise 5 percent, Mantega said.
Global growth will tread water for about two or three years, with most of the expansion coming from so-called BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, he said. (Reporting by Aluisio Alves, Writing by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)