Brazil’s idea for future mobility: the good old bus

September 23, 2014Brazil Institute Leave a comment

Meera Senthilingam – CNN, 09/22/2014

Autonomous vehicles, levitating trains and supersonic tubes have all been suggested as radical ways to transport us faster as the new urban age approaches, but it seems the real secret to a faster commute has been with us all along — the bus.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) systems are paving the way for sustainable, efficient, and affordable travel and now operate in 181 cities worldwide. But they’re not just your regular bus service. Exclusive bus lanes dominate the center of roads, prepaid tickets prevent delays when boarding and raised platforms at bus stops make you level with the bus floor to get on.

These small details all make for a smooth, slick service to help you reach your destination in record time and its nothing new, the first system was pioneered 40 years ago.

Shortage of doctors is the greatest source of complaints on social networks, according to FGV/DAPP

September 9, 2014Brazil Institute Leave a comment

FGV News, 09/08/2014

The network monitoring conducted by FGV’s Public Policy Analysis Division (FGV/DAPP) and published yesterday by the newspaper O Globo recorded, between August 29 and September 5, 75,000 entries about health issues. The shortage of doctors in primary care and in specialization areas of medium and high complexity is the main cause of complaints, revealing the extent of the problem of shortage of professionals. The low volume of complaints about infrastructure and medicine indicates that health facilities and access to medicines seem to be better off.

The analysis of the entries sorted by area reveals that service-related entries are about four times larger than “lack of infrastructure” and “lack of medicine” combined. It is possible to state; therefore, that the issue of access to the Unified Health System (SUS) is the most present problem, which is reinforced by the word cloud on SUS, which highlighted the words “lines” and “waiting”.

The health scenario observed on social networks suggests, accordingly, that the demand for more resources for the sector – a claim very present in public debate – should be followed by a most extensive discussion on the integrated management system model, bringing together the federal, state and local governments.

Brazil protesters keep up the pressure

August 2, 2013Brazil Institute Leave a comment

Paula Daibert – Al Jazeera, 08/01/2013

Massive demonstrations called after a bus fare hike in Sao Paulo and other cities in Brazil have developed into a nation-wide movement that is far from finished.

Some of the recent protests in Rio de Janeiro were triggered by the high costs of Pope Francis’ visit last week and the alleged disappearance of Amarildo de Souza, a 43-year-old construction worker from Rocinha, one of the largest favelas in the city, after he was detained by police on July 14.

Protests, occupations of government buildings and massive public debates are becoming a part of everyday life for Brazilian youth in other important cities as well, like Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Vitoria, among others.

Brazil’s business environment: Baby steps

September 15, 2011Brazil Institute Leave a comment

The Economist – from the print edition, 09/17/2011

AROUND 11am on September 13th, a “1” followed by 12 zeros lit up on a sign in downtown São Paulo. Brazil’s impostômetro (taxometer) hit one trillion reais ($582 billion) 35 days earlier this year than in 2010. Brazil’s tax take is going up, thanks to a booming economy, crackdowns on evasion and inflation pushing people into higher brackets. But public services remain poor: roads are potholed, airports are crowded and pupils learn less than in many places with lower taxes.

So it is no surprise that the public sector is Brazil’s weakest point in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Report, released on September 7th. Its government is the seventh most wasteful spender. Its regulatory burden is the heaviest, and its taxes are the most complex. According to the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report, medium-sized Brazilian firms spend 2,600 hours a year paying taxes—over twice as long as the next-slowest country and nearly ten times the average.

Such rankings have encouraged many countries to cut red tape. In Brazil, however, a loose federal structure and a constitution packed with fine regulatory detail obstruct reforms. Harmonising interstate taxes would require all state governors to agree: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president from 2003 to 2010, tried and failed. Many measures to cut labour overheads would require a constitutional amendment.

Rousseff wants those who have more to pay more

June 20, 2011Brazil Institute 1 Comment

Fabiana Frayssinet- IPS, 06/17/2011

The Brazilian government of Dilma Rousseff is attempting to push through long-delayed reforms of the tax system, which is one of the most onerous and unequal in the world, with a tax burden as heavy as that of many rich countries, but accompanied by deficient public services.

Rousseff announced that the tax reform bill, one of her government’s top priorities, will be introduced to Congress in several parts, leaving aside the idea of a broad, far-reaching reform, which analysts say was one of the reasons it failed on two previous attempts by her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011), who also belonged to the left-wing Workers Party.

However, the initiative is already facing severe criticism, even among the president’s allies in Congress.