MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Meirelles invites foreign investors to take advantage of US$ 269bn opportunities

“The historical trend is for Brazil to have substantially faster growth rates and we will work to have growth back to an average of 4%” Meirelles said.

Brazil's economy could grow 2.5% in 2018 and expand at an even faster rate over the following years, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said at a seminar in Shanghai.

 There are US$269 billion in investment opportunities mapped out in Brazil for the next four years, Meirelles added, which would help the economy recover from the severe recession is has been going through since 2014.

“The historical trend is for Brazil to have substantially faster growth rates and we will work to have growth back to an average of 4%” Meirelles said.

The minister attended the seminar along with President Michel Temer in the framework of the G20 summit in China.

The investment opportunities in Brazil include concessions of public services and the privatization of state companies, Meirelles said, adding that some of the projects will be detailed later this month by the government.

The Senate dismissed President Dilma Rousseff last week, clearing the way for Temer, interim president since May, to push fiscal reforms and privatizations. But Temer's business-friendly agenda faces an uphill battle in Congress in an electoral year, his economic advisers and senior lawmakers have admitted.

Brazil is holding next month municipal elections, after two rough years with the worst recession in seventy years and when there has been a clear erosion of the political system standing for a disenchanted and divided public opinion.