Rio+20: Rio’s dry run for the Olympics and World Cup

Rachel Glickhouse – The Christian Science Monitor, 05/11/2012

Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, begins in Rio de Janeiro on June 20, a little over a month away. While the topics up for discussion are undoubtedly important, all signs point to the possibility that no binding resolution will result and it will be a lot of talking and little action. (For perspective, at one of the New York Rio+20 negotiations that lasted two weeks, the big decision to come out of it was to have more negotiations at the end of the month.) The likely more critical outcome will be a test of how Rio will handle a non-Carnival mega-event before the World Cup and Olympics, and as one of its first big events to turn the spotlight on Rio during the city’s so-called renaissance.

On the one hand, Rio+20 comes at a time when more and more events are being held in Rio. According to International Congress and Convention Association, Rio surpassed São Paulo for the number of events held in the city last year. Rio now has a massive “smart city” operations center to monitor the city in real-time, which has aided the city in its day-to-day but will be especially helpful during large events. The Brazilian army is setting up a cybercrimes defense center in Rio in June right before the conference as a test before the World Cup and Olympics. The police are building their own operations center set to launch next month, also before the conference, and as RioReal Blog notes, people are losing sleep as the city faces deadlines and new goals set by city residents.

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The stars align at Canada’s recent university mission to Brazil

Tedd Hewitt – University Affairs, 05/09/2012

*Ted Hewitt is a Public Policy Scholar with the Brazil Institute

Photo courtesy of Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR

Reflecting the growing interest in Brazil – Canada’s third-largest trading partner in the Americas –30 presidents of Canadian universities recently participated in a delegation to that country organized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. The aim was to promote Canadian excellence in research, highlight Canada’s academic “brand” and encourage the formation of strong linkages between Canadian and Brazilian postsecondary institutions. Underscoring the importance of this venture was the fact that it was led by the Governor General of Canada, and former university president, David Johnston.

Brazil is a logical target for a venture of this scope. With a population of nearly 200 million, it boasts a potentially huge market of Canada-bound undergraduate and graduate students. Further, it possesses what is widely acknowledged to be the most sophisticated innovation system in Latin America, with home-grown technology – much of it developed in public-sector research labs – driving commercial success in a variety of sectors from aerospace to alternative energy, ocean technologies and pharmaceuticals. Its GDP now exceeds that of the United Kingdom.

During their weeklong visit, the leaders of Canada’s universities attended theConference of the Americas on International Education in Rio de Janeiro, participated in the Canada-Brazil Innovation Forum in São Paulo and visited one of Brazil’s leading technological universities, along with federal research centres, before heading to Brasília for talks with government leaders and representatives of agencies that fund innovation and student mobility.

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Controversy as Brazil prepares for 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics

Jed Hughes – Newsroom Jersey, 05/09/2012

Just a little more than two years before the preliminary FIFA World Cup matches, Brazil is making preparations for not one, but two, major international events. As the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament nears — and the 2016 Olympic Games following shortly afterwards — a bright international spotlight will shine on the country. This will undoubtedly be a source of pride for the sizable Brazilian population in New Jersey.

Brazil’s star is on the rise as its economy has boomed during the past five years. Meanwhile, the country has climbed to the top of the global sports stage. With success often comes controversy, however. Reconstruction of Rio de Janeiro’s soccer temple, “The Maracana” has drawn considerable resistance. The historic stadium, built for the 1950 World Cup, has been a fan favorite for decades. The overhaul includes additional luxury boxes and less seating. This type of reconfiguration is a common occurrence at U.S. sports venues, but the changes to The Maracana have drawn considerable ire in Brazil. Gone are the standing-room only section and cheap open seating known as “the bench” available to the poorest fans.

Meanwhile, many low-income settlements, known as favelas, are set to be demolished and replaced by hotels and infrastructure designed to alleviate traffic congestion expected for the World Cup and the Olympics. The improvements for Rio will be long lasting, but the relocation process effectively evicts local inhabitants and sends them to large settlements nearly 50 miles away.

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The Brazilian challenge: how to manage asymmetrical regional relations beyond the OAS

Paulo Sotero – Revista CIDOB d’afers Internacionals, April 2012

ABSTRACT - Viewed by the Lula administration as a relic of the Cold War, the OAS was mostly viewed as an observation post. Diplomats were instructed to maintain a defensive stance and to prevent actions perceived as contrary to Brazilian interests. Indifference turned to ill-disguised anger, however, in the first months of the Dilma Rousseff administration, after the Inter-American Human rights Commission (IHRC) issued an injunction instructing Brazil to cease construction of the controversial Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant. Brazil’s reaction included the recalling of its ambassador to the OAS. This has compounded the OAS’s existential problems by making the organization’s financial position even more precarious. If it goes unresolved, however, the clash could complicate Brazil’s strategy to assert its regional and global leadership as a champion of human rights and multilateralism.

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*Article is in Spanish

Brazil’s future less bright amid slowdown, De Gucht says

Jennifer M. Freedman – Bloomberg Businessweek, 05/07/2012

Brazil’s economy isn’t growing quickly enough because of its focus on commodities and rising regional protectionism, the European Union’s trade chief said.

“Unfortunately the future looks less bright than before,” European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said today in a speech at the Royal Academy in Brussels. “Brazil should be proud of the enormous progress it has made in recent years, but must also know it cannot sit still if it wishes to move to the next stage of its development.”

Growth in the world’s second-largest emerging market slowed to 2.7 percent last year, less than Germany in the middle of the European debt crisis and down from 7.5 percent in 2010. Brazil’s economy will expand 3.2 percent this year, according to a central bank survey of about 100 economists published last week.

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Brazil grapples with repressive past

César Chelala – Epoch Times, 04/26/2012

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff signed into a law a Truth Commission to investigate crimes by a former military regime. She is pictured outside Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on April 19. (Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images)

The creation in Brazil of a Truth Commission to investigate crimes committed from 1946 to 1988 opens the possibility of learning what happened to hundreds of forcibly “disappeared” persons during the country’s recent past.

The findings of the commission, which are to be released two years from now, will allow their families not only to know the fate of their loved ones but also to bring closure to their lives.

Even though the commission’s mandate is to investigate crimes committed by military regimes during their rule from 1964 to 1985, it also includes an investigation of the crimes perpetrated before and after the military dictatorship. It is estimated that between 1964 and 1985, 475 people were forcibly disappeared, 50,000 imprisoned, and 20,000 tortured.

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Credit in Brazil: A more interesting decline

The Economist – from the print edition, 04/21/2012

(Economist)

“HISTORIC”; “drastic”; “unbeatable”: no one could accuse Caixa Econômica Federal, Latin America’s fourth-largest bank, of downplaying its latest interest-rate cuts. Anywhere except Brazil, the supposedly cut-price loans it offers would look more like usury. Interest on overdrafts, for example, has fallen from 157% a year to 51%. Customers whose salaries are paid into a Caixa account will soon be offered a credit card charging 2.85% monthly—down from 12.86%. Yet Caixa is not exaggerating about the break with the past that its new rates represent. For Brazilians with recent memories of hyperinflation, an overdraft at 51% a year is an unheard-of bargain.

Now the government is trying to force the pace. On April 18th the Central Bank made its sixth consecutive cut to its policy rate, bringing it to 9%, an all-time low in real terms. Its policymakers see subdued global demand as an opportunity to reset rates at a lower level, without risking a return to higher inflation.

However, government officials believe Brazil’s big banks wield hefty market power, and worry that they will gobble up the benefits instead of passing them on to consumers. As a result, they have resorted to browbeating, dragging bankers into the finance ministry and ordering them to cut rates and lend more. Earlier this month Murilo Portugal, the president of Febraban, the bankers’ trade association, met Guido Mantega, the finance minister. He suggested that lower reserve requirements and taxes, together with greater rights for creditors, would help to cut rates. Mr Mantega later retorted publicly that the conditions were already in place for Brazilian banks to stop being the “world champions of spread”. He suggested the cuts could come out of the banks’ profits instead.

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Brazil showcases economic potential

Global Magazine, 04/17/2012

Brazil has not been immune to the impact of the global financial crisis, but this has not stopped it overtaking the UK as the sixth largest economy in the world and remaining a favoured destination for international investors. In the process, it is becoming an engine of growth for other countries in South America.

GDP growth fell from 7.5 percent in 2010 to 2.7 percent last year, as the industrial sector suffered from falling demand for its exports, but the agriculture sector remained healthy and expanded by 8.4 percent.

Unemployment is at its lowest levels on record, and standards of living have improved markedly. Over the year, family consumption expanded by 4.1 percent and government consumption by 1.9 percent.

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Brazilian Central Banker confounds critics

Andre Soliani – Businessweek, 04/16/2012

Alexandre Tombini. Source: Businessweek

No central banker in the world’s top 10 economies has surprised analysts as frequently as Brazil’s Alexandre Tombini.

Since taking office 15 months ago, Tombini set interest rates lower than economists expected in three out of 10 policy meetings, including an August reduction that all 62 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg failed to anticipate. Russia’s central bank, the second most unpredictable, defied economists in three out of 14 rate decisions in the same period.

So far, Tombini has been vindicated. Inflation in Brazil, at 5.24 percent in March, is easing at a pace faster than analysts forecast. While investors have speculated that Tombini may be yielding to political pressure to lower rates, his gloomy assessment of the world economy and risk-taking may prove correct, according to Citigroup Inc.’s Dirk Willer. Tombini will cut the benchmark rate by three-quarters of a point to 9 percent tomorrow, according to a Bloomberg survey of 55 analysts.

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BTG Pactual chief fined over insider trading, casting cloud over IPO

Silvia Aloisi & Steve Slater -Reuters, 04/17/2012

André Esteves, the billionaire boss ofBrazil‘s BTG Pactual, has been fined 350,000 euros (288,023 pounds) by Italy’s financial regulator for insider trading, just 10 days before his investment bank’s looming stock market listing.

BTG Pactual said its activities would be unaffected by the ruling against Esteves, who owns 24 percent of the Brazilian bank, making him one of Brazil’s richest executives. But it will force the bank to amend its prospectus, give investors the option of reconsidering bids for BTG shares, and puts a cloud over one of this year’s highest profile bank deals.

According to the Italian market watchdog Consob, Esteves made use of privileged information about a planned joint venture involving Italian meat company Cremonini when he bought Cremonini shares in November 2007.

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