MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian companies doubled profits under Pte. Lula da Silva

A solid and stable democracy has led to a functioning market economy

Brazilian corporations from 21 different business sectors doubled their profits in the five years of President Lula da Silva administrations (2003/2007), according to information disclosed by Economatica consultants in Sao Paulo.

The profits of 257 corporations with shares in the stock market increased 100.76% between 2003 and 2007, which means earnings jumped from the equivalent of 37 billion US dollars to 73 billion US dollars in 2007; between 2006 and 2007, 20.1%. The best performance for the fifth year running was the banking sector which managed profits of 14.7 billion US dollars last year. Banks are followed by oil and gas, with earnings of 11 billion US dollars and mining, 10.2 billion US dollars. If only the profits of oil company Petrobras and mining company Vale do Rico Doce, the two largest corporations of the country are considered, the aggregate profit was 48.7 billion US dollars in 2007 compared to 20.3 billion US dollars in 2003, an increase of 139.64%. Just to give an idea, Petrobras profit in 2007 reached 12.7 billion US dollars and Vale's 11.9 billion US dollars, equivalent to 50.5% of the total registered by all the companies researched by Economatica. Not counting the two giants, the electricity generation sector had profits of 8.6 billion US dollars; ironwork and metallurgy, 6.6 billion and telecommunications 4.1 billion. President Lula da Silva was first elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. No wonder the hard core Socialists, former members of the ruling Workers Party, define President Lula da Silva as the father of the poor?and the mother of banks?