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Foreign Investment and the PAC 2: Accelerating Brazil's Growth

Foreign Investment and the PAC 2: Accelerating Brazil's GrowthAccelerate Brazil on May 26th and 27th is a forum for anyone who is interested in one of the biggest foreign investment projects to exist in Latin America in generations. The Accelerate Brazil Infrastructure and Investment Expo-Forum is an exhibition for foreign investors who wish to learn about what projects and opportunities are open in the next few years in Brazil. As the Brazilian government implements the PAC 2, Brazil’s mass public building project, PAC 2 projects will take to dominate the cityscapes and landscapes of Brazil over the next decade. These projects and the opportunities to invest in Brazil’s brick and mortar growth have yet to be fully disseminated to many potential foreign investors, but forums like Accelerate Brazil will be of great interest to any companies that wish to build their reputation in one of the fastest growing countries in the world.

Questions about what projects will be open to foreign investors are slowly being released over time and eager industry leaders wish to get in on the ground floor of Brazil’s economic action plan. The new Rousseff Administration continued with the PT policies of her predecessor Lula and has placed an emphasis on eradicating poverty by creating opportunities for lower and middle income families through enhancements in public safety, education, housing and healthcare in Brazil. Brazil’s luck in winning future international sporting events such as the World Cup and 2016 Olympics also focuses billions of dollars into preparing for these events. Under the PAC 2, along with building infrastructure and improving the standard of living of some of Brazil’s lower income areas, producing an innovative and just crime reduction/social building programs from the ground up is a focus of the funding along with brick and mortar projects.

While discussions during the Accelerate Brazil conference will bring investors to one forum, it will also open information about opportunities for investment in the PAC 2 projects. Possible opportunities may focus around natural elements in Brazil, one being transportation and logistics and the second expanding their aviation industry. Due to the diverse landscape in Brazil and the size of the country, growth needs to be accompanied by the ability to move products, materials, people, fuel, and of course the bricks and mortar needed to sustain the rapid growth being experienced in Brazil. Embraer and companies that service the production and maintenance of aircraft will surely be key to Brazil’s growth and increased trade abroad. Something so simple as a road allowed Rome to build up Italia in ancient times, and roads, docks and transportation will allow Brazil to move its industrial goods, ship its agricultural products and export its oil and ethanol abroad.

Any first year economics student will tell you that markets often are subject to natural boom and bust cycles, and even for a BRICS nation this will be the case in Brazil. Brazil’s PAC 2 and future investments may do well in investing in its people and its own research to supplement slower growth in the future past many of the PAC 2 project’s completion. Brazil’s current growth has resulted from the need for raw materials in China for its own growth, but with an aging population in China the post PAC 2 era must be supplemented now via R+D projects and growing a workforce that can operate and innovate on the new roads and with new trade partners that will come to Brazil in the near future. Foreign investment must be met with a local obligation to promote Brazilians in the process of the country’s growth. Poverty reduction should be accompanied by the development of markets and the people who can advance in those markets and become entrepreneurial without depending on government investment or worrying about administrative complications or economic instability. The opportunity is there to pull Latin America and Brazil out of its curse of instable growth and inequality. While the Accelerate Brazil forum brings investment and innovation to Brazil, the next forums and investments will surely be discussing how Brazilians will be affected and what needs to be done in Brazilian society to absorb this new growth and create long-term growth from the current boom in Brazil’s growing economy.

For information on Accelerate Brazil, please see the link here.

For more information on Brazil and PAC 2 Development, please search the link here.

 

Author

Richard Basas

Richard Basas, a Canadian Masters Level Law student educated in Spain, England, and Canada (U of London MA 2003 LL.M., 2007), has worked researching for CSIS and as a Reporter for the Latin America Advisor. He went on to study his MA in Latin American Political Economy in London with the University of London and LSE. Subsequently, Rich followed his career into Law focusing mostly on International Commerce and EU-Americas issues. He has worked for many commercial and legal organisations as well as within the Refugee Protection Community in Toronto, Canada, representing detained non-status indivduals residing in Canada. Rich will go on to study his PhD in International Law.

Areas of Focus:
Law; Economics and Commerce; Americas; Europe; Refugees; Immigration

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