Latin America Business Monitor
September issue
The Latin America Business Monitor or BMI for short is one of those added value items that organisations offer and when the Brazilian Chamber started to send it out, I was not sure how much time I should spend looking at it. The challenge for us all is that we get so much information and other 10 pages could be another 10 pages to skip.
I have now learnt that to keep on top of what is going on in Brazil I need to read everything on the BMI as it means that I don’t have to go through O Globo, the Folha and Veja for general news and I also get some economic information as well. Well presented, supported by facts and figures with the odd graph, this is 15 minutes of time very well invested.
The first thing this month, which took me by surprise, is their downgrading of Brazil’s economic growth projections and why, when everybody that I talk to in London is talking them up. There were also some additional comments about the close scrutiny of the banking sector, which makes for some very interesting reading, considering some of the latest challenges that the global financial sectors are facing.
One of the areas, which I have noticed is the growth in travel to and from Brazil with TAM’s doubling of their flights, their fleet increase of 34 planes and their £1.4 billion investment in Rolls Royce engines. Sure enough BMI had this covered, plus some additional interesting tourism statistics
Another subject is the relationship of UK companies wanting to trade with Brazil, the effect of the recent Bribery Act and levels of corruption in Brazil. Sure enough there on page 2 was a lot about the pressing problems that President Dilma is facing with the resignation of the Transport Minister Alfredo Nascimento and the recent challenges with the Ministry of Tourism. All of this is especially relevant to the infrastructure investment by the government for the World Cup and the Olympics.
Finally there were some very useful comments on export figures, investment in hotels, Petrobras’s recent budget changes and Brazil’s global security rating, all of which are crucial to the increasing interest by UK companies in Brazil. Very definitely a very well spent 15 minutes and many thanks once again to the Brazilian Chamber for organising it and free of charge.
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