Project opportunities in Brazil
Brazil is planning to launch tenders by November to modernise and expand 45 regional airports – the first of 270 terminals for which contracts will be awarded. Brazil also has a U.S. $42 billion plan for 11,000 kilometres of railways. This will be supported by government financial institutions such as the national development bank BNDES, which is reportedly giving $75 billion in finance to projects in logistics and infrastructure for 2013-16. [1]
According to Luciano Coutinho, the president of BNDES, the bank has disbursed a record $38.6 billion in the first half of 2013. He expects total disbursement of $83.1 billion dollars for all of 2013. Their disbursement in 2012 was $68 billion. Coutinho has projected an investment of around $524 billion dollars in infrastructure in Brazil by 2017. He has called on the private sector to invest 30% of this total. [2]
Brazil’s poor roads, railways, and airports are adding to the cost of production and exports, making Brazil less competitive. Brazil’s investment in infrastructure has been below the global average. The government is now determined address this gap.
Central America faces a coffee crisis
Central American coffee production could drop by 50% this year due to the 2012 outbreak of “coffee leaf rust” (a fungus that has long haunted the industry), which has hit Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The outbreak is the worst in 30 years, affecting over half the total coffee-growing area in the region. This has caused large-scale unemployment besides deprivation of income for farmers and a fall in earnings for coffee-exporting countries.
Ambassador Viswanathan is Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Studies, Gateway House. He is the former Indian Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela, and Consul General in Sao Paulo.
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References:
1. Bloomberg. (2013, August 14). Brazil $42 Billion Rail Bet to Cut Iron Ore-Farm Costs: Freight. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-14/brazil-42-billion-rail-bet-to-cut-iron-ore-farm-costs-freight.html
2. “BNDES’ disbursements reach record of R$ 102 billion up to July.” (2013, September 24). Retrieved from http://www.bndes.gov.br/SiteBNDES/bndes/bndes_en/Institucional/Press/
Noticias/2013/20130924_desembolsos.html