MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

President Rousseff pledges to double Brazilian per capita income by 2022

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Friday that the government intends to double per capita income by 2022, when Brazil celebrates 200 years of independence from Portugal.

“We will soon celebrate the 200th anniversary of our independence, and on that day, we will have to look back and see what we did to build our sovereignty, our development, and the well-being of our people ... our goal is ...to double our per capita income, ” Rousseff told a business ceremony.

Last year, Brazil's per capita income remained stable at 22,402 Real (11,429 US dollars), according to official figures.
In her speech at the ceremony marking the supply of construction machinery to 54 towns in Rio Grande do Sul state, Rousseff stressed the need for “strong infrastructure.”
She said that for a long period in the 1980s, her country did not invest as much as necessary in the sector.
Rousseff highlighted recent investment in logistics and transport networks, and announced an investment of 2.4 billion Real (1.2 billion dollars) in infrastructure in the southern state, where she began her career in public administration.
The government plans to build a railway to connect Rio Grande do Sul with the country's largest city Sao Paulo and farther north, she said.
“We need infrastructure projects...our country need to be competitive, and we will only be competitive if we have strong infrastructure,” she said.