Is the Brazilian economy doing well?

There is general opinion that four countries of the BRIC are doing exceptionally well and have been catching up developed countries at a healthy pace. For example, Finn Kydland recently mentioned that some developing countries and emerging economies have been closing the gap in real GDP per capita. Figure 1 presents the difference between real GDP per capita in the US and Brazil. There is no sign that the gap has been closing since 1990. There we two years of countermotion in 2008 and 2009, but in 2010 did not give any further improvement. The Brazilian economy cannot provide the same annual increment of GDP per capita as the US does, and thus, its performance is not good.

Figure 1. The difference of real GDP per capita in the US and Brazil (1990 US dollars). The gap has been increasing since 1990.

Some countries do demonstrate an exceptionally high growth rate, however. Figure 2 presents the case of Trinidad and Tobago. Is that the country of interest for the world-wide economic growth?

Figure 2. The difference of real GDP per capita in the US and Trinidad and Tobago (1990 US dollars).