Category: Brazil

Brazil’s troubled airline Varig registered net revenue of $3.4 billion in 2004, up 11 percent year-on-year. The company reduced its net loss 95 percent to $34 million, while gross profit totaled $980 million, up 10 percent. Varig finished 2004 with debts worth $2.2 billion, most of which are owed to the Brazilian government.

The International Monetary Fund raised its growth forecasts this year for Mexico and Brazil, predicting that both countries’ economies will expand 3.7 percent, more than the previous 3.2 percent forecast for Mexico and 3.5 percent outlook for Brazil. The IMF called on Latin American countries to take advantage of the economic expansion in the region to reduce debt and broaden the tax collection base to help keep budget deficits under control.

The Brazilian government has confirmed Elifas Gurgel do Amaral, 49, as president of Anatel, the federal telecom regulatory agency. Gurgel, an engineer and reserve army colonel, had taken over on an ad hoc basis in January. He is a close ally of Communications Minister Eunício Oliveira and member of the PMDB party, a member of the ruling coalition. The government picked Gurgel over senior career Anatel officials, despite opposition from Finance Minister Antonio Palocci and telecom operators concerned that nominally independent Anatel is losing its autonomy. Brazil has one of the largest and fastest-growing telecom markets in the developing world.

Brazil’s industrial production expanded at the slowest pace in five months in February as rising interest rates curbed demand. Industrial output rose 4.4 percent from the year-earlier period after increasing 6 percent in January. The slowdown indicates the pace of economic growth is easing, which may take pressure off the central bank to keep boosting the benchmark lending rate. Central bankers have raised the benchmark overnight rate seven times since September, leaving it at a 17-month high of 19.25 percent.

Brazil’s electricity regulator granted utilities bigger rate increases than analysts had forecast, raising concern that inflation may accelerate. Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais, the country’s largest combined power generator and distributor, can raise prices 21% while Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz, which serves São Paulo state, can boost rates 9%. The Central Bank is trying to lower inflation, which hit 7.4% in the 12 months through February.

Brazilian bonds rose Tuesday on expectations that declining US bond yields will prompt investors to seek higher returns on riskier emerging-market debt. Brazil’s benchmark bond due in 2040 gained 55 cents to $111.25 as the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note held near a four-week low, making emerging market bonds more attractive. Brazil’s government owes creditors about $450 billion, making it the largest debtor in the developing world.

The Brazilian real rose to a five-week high Wednesday on expectations that record exports will sustain the fastest economic expansion in a decade and boost demand for the local currency. The real ended the day at 2.60 to the dollar. The currency has gained 4.7 percent since Finance Minister Antonio Palocci on March 28 raised his 2005 export forecast to $112 billion, 17 percent above last year’s record.

Italy’s Fiat announced it will invest $500 million in its Brazilian subsidiary through 2007 to launch new models in the highly competitive local market. The state of Minas Gerais, where the Fiat plant is located, will finance part of the investment. The company has invested over $1 billion in Brazil, its second largest market, since 2002. Fiat SPA lost €1.59 billion in 2004, its third year of losses.