Brazil should stop being self-absorbed giant

Andres Oppenheimer – The Miami Herald, 02/26/2013

Brazil, South America’s biggest country, may become a global economic super-star in the future, but it will have to stop being an inward-looking giant.

There is new evidence that, despite President Dilma Rousseff’s announcement last week that Brazil will have a record grain crop this year, the country’s huge oil discoveries, and the unique propaganda opportunity Brazil will gain from hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, recent trade trends don’t bode well for the country.

The World Bank last week published a report entitled  The Brazilian Competitiveness Cliff that shows Brazil’s exports of high-valued industrial goods aren’t doing well. It says Brazil is facing “considerable competitiveness challenges.” Translation: the country is falling behind other emerging powers.

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Brazil’s Vale to invest $12 billion in 2010

Reuters, 10/17/09

Brazilian mining giant Vale (VALE5.SA) will boost investment by more than 30 percent to around $12 billion next year, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said on Saturday, citing a source with links to the company.

The company has faced harsh criticism in recent months from government leaders for not investing enough in Brazil, fueling speculation President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking to force out the company’s chief executive Roger Agnelli.

On Wednesday, the the world’s largest iron ore producer announced it would invest more than $5 billion by 2015 to boost production capacity in the mining state of Minas Gerais, in efforts to stave off criticism.

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