By R. Viswanathan (*) - The reelection of President Dilma Rouseff means continuation of the slow growth of the Brazilian economy and a lower likelihood of much-needed, major political and economic reforms. India should lower its expectations on a global partnership with Brazil.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday asked Congress to allow the government to deduct all of its investments and tax exemptions from a key 2014 fiscal target, effectively lowering a goal that it will miss for the third straight year.
Venezuela needs a 'major social agreement' to adjust its economy and overcome the current and persistent political conflicts in the country, said Ernesto Samper, chairman of Unasur (Union of South American Nations) during a visit to Brasilia.
Brazil raised domestic wholesale gasoline and diesel prices for the first time in more than 11 months effective Friday in a move to bolster the finances of the heavily indebted Petrobras oil and gas company after years of refining losses.
The number of Brazilians living in extreme poverty grew for the first time in a decade, according to government figures. The Institute of Economic Research reported that the number of people in households with incomes below the poverty threshold of 30 dollars rose from 10.1 to 10.5 million people, which means a 3.7% increase.
Brazilian banker Luiz Carlos Trabuco Cappi, president of Bradesco, turned down an invitation from president Dilma Rousseff to occupy the Finance ministry as of next January first. According to the Sao Paulo financial publication Valor, there was no insistence on the issue from political sources.
The re-election of President Dilma Rousseff's in Brazil has exposed a deeply divided country with an overwhelming support for the incumbent in the impoverished northeast, where millions receive benefits from huge welfare programs the ruling Workers Party (PT) has rolled out over the past decade.
In a strong editorial the influential Folha de Sao Paulo argues that Brazil's reelected President Dilma Rousseff must reestablish confidence to the nation, which is divided regionally and socially, must implement a fluid dialogue with productive Brazil because the economy needs changes and new faces, and must rule for all the country, because victory was the result of millimetrical dispute in Sunday's runoff.
Private sector analysts are maintaining their 2014 growth forecast for Brazil's economy at 0.27%, the Central Bank said on Monday. GDP estimate was included in the Focus review, a weekly Central Bank survey of analysts from about 100 private financial institutions on the state of the national economy.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff supported by the decisive campaigning of Lula da Silva, narrowly won re-election on Sunday after convincing voters that the record on poverty reduction in the last twelve years was more important than a recent economic slump.