Teresina Brazil welcomes the Minha Casa Minha Vida Programme

The city of Teresina has the distinction of being the only State capital (of Piaui state in this case) in the North East which is not actually situated on the Atlantic coast. In fact this city of 800,000 people is well inland, about 350 Km from the ocean. It is younger than many other Brazilian towns and cities. Teresina was only founded in 1852, as a planned city (the first planned city in the country). It originally had a different name, Vila Nova do Poty (in English 'New Town of Poty'...referring to the Poty River). Later in the century the settlement was renamed Teresina in honour of the wife of Pedro II the Emperor of Brazil, the Empress Teresa Cristina, the town is now seeing an increased from international investors keen to further develop the city and surrounding areas.

Teresina was (and still is) the naturally hottest city in Brazil and one of the two or three most lighting-prone places on earth. The geography of the district is influenced by its location in a transition zone between the Amazon rainforest and the north-eastern plains. Both scrub coverage and distribution of mid-size trees are plentiful. The overall climate is tropical with just two main seasons per year, the wet and the dry. Temperature range in Teresina is from 20 degrees C up to 35, with an average of 27 making it ideal for urban development.

The economy of the city is currently based on the processing and/or manufacturing of a number of products. These include chemicals and pharmaceuticals, ceramics, furniture, bicycles and soft drinks (to name but a few). The building and construction industry has also surged in the last couple of decades, as can be seen by the large number of high-rise buildings in the downtown or city-centre areas. For this reason it has the nickname of 'Town of Towers' (or at least the Portuguese equivalent of the title). Construction in and around the city continues to this day as the city catches the attention of foreign investors and developers.
This especially-designed inland city has two features that are immediately obvious to visitors. One is the logical grid system of the city centre. The other is related, it's the presence of the many thousands of mango and other trees which line the streets, giving the whole place a very 'green' feel. In addition, locals and visitors alike love the fact that Teresina is one of the 'safest' urban centres in Brazil, with rates of crime well under the national average making it very popular with overseas investors. Teresina is not just the capital of Piaui state but almost completely dominates it, not just administratively but economically and culturally too. Not only is forty percent of the state's GDP dependant on the capital but it's also very much the hub of musical and entertainment aspects too. You can access a blog about this by clicking on the translatable site Agenda Cultural Teresina.

Every year in the summer the city hosts 'Encontro Nacional de Folguedos'. This is Brazil's national festival of folklore and is a highly-prestigious celebration of Culture, Music, Dance and Food from right across the country. All these features of this vibrant and unusual city make the place highly unique and interesting in many ways. Needless to say, this growing metropolis provides an attractive option for those considering short term property investment, as there is an abundance of land ideally located for housing developments, this has attracted a number of property developers from both Brazil and overseas who are prepared to build minha casa minha vida housing developments in the area, both locals and city officials have welcomed this news and many outsiders wishing to safely invest in Brazil have also shown a keen interest in these future social housing developments.

News Construction Photos of the Casa Nova Green Development

Latest Construction Photos taken at the Casa Nova Green Development in Natal, North East Brazil

Brazilians Living in Britain Boost Confidence in Minha Casa Minha Vida Investments

Investors in the popular Minha Casa Minha Vida Social housing programme have reported feeling more confident in the programme after discussing the product with some of the many thousand Brazilian's living here in the United Kingdom, Brazilian's are proud people and even prouder of the government programme that will put an end to the housing deficit in Brazil

Brazilians and their descendants form the largest Latin American group of people in the United Kingdom. For many years there has of course been a community from the South American giant in England, Scotland and Wales but in the last few decades it has expanded very rapidly.

Estimates of total numbers vary widely but it is generally thought that the official statistics greatly under-estimate the figures. Reasons for this are many and are very controversial. The opinion is widely held that a large number of people simply 'stay over' when their permissions to be in Britain expire. On the other hand, some of them do get such legal extensions or 'long-term residences' in the first place. There seems to be a consensus emerging, though, that there are about 200,000 Brazilians (legal or otherwise) in the UK in 2012.
Most of the earlier immigrants were students or former students who remained after their courses, either legally or otherwise. It's true to some extent that the relatively large numbers from the nineteen-seventies onwards were able to come for one particular reason. It was because travel at last became practical and affordable for people other than the rich for the very first time.

Brazilians in the UK came to widespread public notice in 2005. This was due to the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes from Brazil, a resident and worker in Tulse Hill, London. Mr. de Menezes was mistakenly identified by armed plainclothes police as a terrorist on the run following the second attempted wave of July bombings in London that year. The chased him into Stockwell Station and shot him dead, thinking he was Osman Hussein, an instigator of the failed second wave.

Nowadays well over half of all Brazilians in Britain live in Greater London, many of them in the borough of Brent (estimated between twenty and thirty thousand there), Bayswater (often called by its nickname 'Brazilwater') and the Stockwell area where they live beside a large number of Portuguese people. Outside London, there are reckoned to be many Brazilians in other locations. These include Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Norfolk and Brighton. Throughout the UK many Brazilians seem to be working at lowly 'blue-collar' jobs, in many cases well below the level of education and/or qualification they hold. This is probably due to visa restrictions plus lack of fluency in English. The statistics from the Institute for Public Policy Research seem to show that about 32% are involved in cleaning and associated work plus another 26% in Hotel and Catering jobs. Courier occupations account for another ten per cent and so does the construction industry.
Over the last twenty years or so a number of business and services have been specifically set up, especially in London, to cater for the Brazilian community. They include opportunities for both long term investment and of course short term investment from Brazil itself and more locally from the UK. These comprise numerous cafes and restaurants, media outlets, counselling and legal services and of course media of print, broadcast and/or online kinds. Particularly interesting is the brasil.net paper and cyber news outlet and Rede Record a TV outlet to be found on Sky channel 801. There are an enormous number of musical and sporting activities, too. All these add to the vibrant and growing mix that is 'Brazil in Britain' today.
This close to home Brazilian culture for some reason gives the people and businesses of the United Kingdom a boost of confidence in the Country, it's people and it's economy which is evident in the amount of interest that Brazilian focused investment seminers get from the British public and Businesses. Last year property investment seminars such as those promoting the popular minha casa minha vida affordable housing programme were sell out events.

Singapore Investors Visit Casa Nova Brazil

A fortnight ago 10 of our best Singapore investors came to see first hand what EcoHouse actually does. They had a wonderfully enjoyable trip and EcoHouse Brasil welcomed them with open arms, excited to show off all our successful Minha Casa Minha Vida development projects. They had a busy 7 days with us and visited all our construction sites, spoke with our director, commercial and sales managers, engineers, the company lawyer, the Infrastructure and Environmental Secretary of Sao Goncalo - who ensures EcoHouse follows all the necessary environmental and construction laws of the municipality, the Manager of Banco do Brasil - the government bankwhich we have recently partnered with in the Minha Casa Minha Vida program,and of course our CEO Anthony Armstrong.

They got the opportunity to ask any questions they might have and got a very clear picture and idea of what EcoHouse is doing on ground level. They also were afforded the opportunity to really understand the Minha Casa Minha Vida project initiated by the Brasilian government and saw for themselves the never ending demand and need for affordable housing and the wonderful investor opportunities available to them. But it wasn’t all work…the trip was also great fun! Our investors visited Natal’s various historical sites including Natal’s famous sand dune Morro de Careca. They also sawthe natural beauty of Natal on a thrilling buggy ride on our gorgeous beaches, ate some of the best cuisine Natal has to offer, shopped in our shopping malls and craft markets and even took a trip to the South of Brasil, visiting and touring Rio, Iguassu Falls - one of the world’s natural wonders, and Sao Paulo -Brasil’s buzzing commercial capital, allbefore heading off on their rather long journey home! EcoHouse wants to take this opportunity to thank all our Singaporean investors who took the time to visit us and we look forward to many more years of partnership and many more visits!

As we say in Portuguese "Ter você como parceiro nos fortalece ainda mais"

"To have you as our partner strengthens us even the more"

Manaus Brazil a Tropical Metropolis Popular with Foreign Investors

Of all the cities in Brazil perhaps the most unusual is Manaus, riverside capital of the state of Amazonas. As that description suggests, it has a untypical location (and indeed reputation) sited as it is near (practically on) the mighty River Amazon and in the midst of the historic rainforest. It's also quite remote, considering its size. The metropolitan area is very nearly two thousand Kilometres from the national capital, Brasilia. It's a bit more than that to either Rio de Janiero or Sao Paolo and the trip to both takes nearly four hours by air.
The settlement goes back a very long way in time. The earliest recorded existence is way back in 1669 when (very!) early Portuguese explorers/colonists established a fort and trading post. Things slowly developed from there and the growing settlement was officially constituted as a town –called 'Manaus' (“mother of the gods” in a local tongue)- in 1832. Just sixteen years later they achieved the next step, status as a fully-fledged city.

The city and its surrounding area really took off in the late nineteenth century. This was almost entirely due to the rubber industry boom, where for a while the producers round here enjoyed a virtual world monopoly. The city became very wealthy, very quickly. It quickly acquired all the trappings of ostentatious wealth; huge mansions, expensive public buildings, a magnificent opera house (the 'Teatro Amazonas')and so on.Inevitably though, plants and seeds were successfully smuggled out to other areas and countries (e.g. Malaya) and the area lost its dominance in the industry and its position as an economic powerhouse.For quite a while, though, the city boomed and many fortunes were made and millionaires created. Eventually however things went rapidly to the other extreme and real poverty struck for many people.

Since then there's been a healthy recovery based on a duty-free regime, a fact that's of interest (and great relief) to long term investment providers in this part of the country and come to think of it short term investment too. Both levels of course demonstrate a vibrant combination of both domestic and international finance. So, nowadays the city has bounced back from its slump to such an extent that its metropolitan area, with 2.3 million people, is the largest in northern Brazil. Its GDP contributes about 1.5 percent of the whole country's GDP which is about average for Brazil on a person-by-person basis. The area also accounts for almost exactly half of the entire Amazon regional population. To a large extent, economic prosperity is grounded on the Manaus Free Trade Zone, a federally approved initiative which has proved popular in Brazil to say the least and is directly responsible for nearly a hundred thousand jobs within the zone and more than twice as many again outside it.

Weather is unusual for this kind of terrain and vegetation. There are distinct wet and dry seasons. So, instead of having a typical tropical rainforest ('jungle') climate the local pattern is more usually categorised as more of a monsoon type. year round average temperatures are in excess of 30 degrees Celsius making this a very popular area for investors looking to build hotels and resorts aimed at holiday makers looking to get that tropical feeling from their surroundings. Anyone looking to Invest In Brazil, Especially in property and real estate should consider this area as a number of investment news websites and publications are already promoting the area as one of the top emerging Brazilian investment spots of 2013.
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Triple Victory for EcoHouse at the OPP Awards

Wednesday was a very special night for the international property industry. More than three hundred representatives from companies operating around the globe gathered in London at the prestigious 'The Brewer' of EC1 for a gala evening.

The event was held under the auspices of OPP (Overseas Propert Professionals) and was to celebrate and reward the best and brightest stars in the overseas property world over the past year. A sort of cross between the Oscars and the Olympics for the profession !

We're very pleased and proud to announce that the panel of independent judges awarded EcoHouse not just one or two but three major awards. These were for 'Best Affordable Development', Best Estate Agency-Middle East and Best Developer-South America.

EcoHouse CEO Anthony Armstrong-Emery expressed his delight at the achievements. He made a point of publicly thanking all his staff who he gratefully acknowledged has all contributed to this great outcome for the company

Sao Paulo Brazil now a Major Economic Hub and a hit with Foreign Investors

Most people in other countries tend to have very settled views about Brazil. They think of the Amazon, the coffee, the football, the Rio carnival and very little else. But there's an awful lot more to this fascinating country than that. For a start, its sheer size, with an area nearly three and a half million square miles and a population now well over two hundred million. In fact in both aspects Brazil is now the world's fifth largest country. In economic terms, too the nation is powering ahead, with a GDP value which is the world's sixth largest. Apart from the USA, Brazil is easily the biggest and most vibrant industrial power in the Americas.
Within the country there's an astonishing diversity of territory including tropical rainforest, grassland, farmed areas and cities. By far the biggest built-up area is the coastal conurbation of Sao Paolo and the surrounding area. Not only is this city the biggest and most populous in Brazil ( nearly 50% bigger than Rio de Janiero for instance) but 'S.P' is also the largest city in the whole of the southern hemisphere and indeed seventh largest in the world. Not only that but the area's per capita GDP is second only to the capital, Brasilia. As well as a huge variety of domestic and international business centres, Sao Paolo also hosts the Stock Exchange and the Cereal Stock Exchange which is in fact the second largest Stock Exchange, by value, on the planet!

A city of this size also has considerable cultural and political influence, as you'd expect. For instance every two years it hosts the Sao Paolo Art Biennial and (more frequently) the famous Fashion Week, not to mention a host of international sporting events such as the Brazil Grand Prix Formula 1 and the Indy 300.
The city has a long history, dating all the way back to the first half of the sixteenth century. To put it in perspective, that was about the time King Henry the eighth was having his marital difficulties in England ! Obviously, the area like the rest of Brazil was under Portuguese rule for centuries. In fact , the original village of Sao Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was settled some 50km inland from the very first settlement in Portuguese Brazil, Sao Vincente. The town then city grew slowly until the mid nineteenth century when it and the nearby port of Santos entered a prolonged boom caused by the world demand for coffee.

The original European settlers and their indigenous and African slaves occupied the country almost exclusively till 1888 when slavery was abolished. After that, Brazil saw the beginnings of its modern cosmopolitan nature when wave after wave of European and middle eastern immigrants came to the country. Members of all groups settled in Sao Paolo of course but Italians featured particularly.

When coffee as an important product subsided somewhat it was replaced by sugar cane and alcohol plus of course a great many other industries. In the present day this mighty metropolis is a major economic hub, encouraging and rewarding both long term investment and also short term investment especially in property and real estate where thousands of investors, big and small, from all over the world have already invested in the popular Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing programme. Real estate and other ethical investments opportunities will continue to advance the economy for many years to come.

Brazilian president gives economic advice to David Cameron

Brazil's president made a opportune, though almost certainly innocent, intervention during Britain's party political conference season when she hailed the significance of stimulating economic expansion.

President Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist, said it was vital to stimulate the economy during a recession. Standing next to David Cameron, who is pushing an austerity programme in the UK, she delivered a speech at the presidential palace in Brasilia that could gave been written by the Labour party.

Dilma said: "I stressed the importance of expanding efforts with a view to improving the conditions that will prove conducive to a recovery of the international economy, not only as regards developed countries but also as regards emerging countries," said the socialist president.

"I have told the prime minister that Brazil has done its share in efforts to improve the recovery of the world economy by means of stimuli to jobs and growth."

The president lavished praise on Cameron for his successful visit to Brazil, saying she was impressed that he visited all three main cities – São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia.

Cameron responded by supporting Brazil's campaign to have a permanent seat on the UN security council. He said: "As Brazil takes its place on the global stage, so it's case for permanent membership of the UN security council becomes ever stronger. We support Brazilian membership.

Cameron ended his trip to Brazil by launching a treaty to encourage the production of more Anglo-Brazilian blockbuster films. Speaking at his press conference with Rousseff, Cameron said he wanted to see more productions of films such as the James Bond adventure Moonraker that was shot in Rio. Cameron, who claims to be a big Bond fan, said: "In film [we have agreed] a new film co-production treaty which will offer incentives for our budding film makers to work together and make a new generation of blockbusters with those unforgettable moments like Bond hanging over Sugar Loaf Mountain."

The treaty, signed by the trade minister Lord Green and the Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota, was one of 10 treaties signed during his visit to Brasilia

Foreign Investment in Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing Continues to Rise

Ask any investment advisor or company or go and browse any alternative investment news website and the main topic is Brazilian real estate investments, and the main focus is the governments Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House My Life) programme. But why all the interest in the country? and what is this programme all about? There is currently a massive property boom going on in all of Brazil's main cities and it's being fuelled by the demand for affordable residential housing.

Brazil's economy has improved a great deal in recent years and is now the 6th largest economy in the world, there has also been a swift increase in general wealth of it's people. This has meant an unparalleled demand for reasonably priced housing. The rapidly growing middle classes, for one thing, have needed many more affordable homes to purchase than were previously available. Coupled with this is the situation of those whose present accommodation is sadly unsatisfactory or below standard.

The solution to this housing shortage was an idea first put onto the table by the previous president of Brazil Lula da Silva way back in 2008 which was to build affordable housing for the growing middle classes and to have set sale prices, one hundred percent mortgages provided by Brazil's federal bank and strict rules for purchase of a property to avoid these homes being bought and sold by the wrong people who were simply out to make a profit and to make certain that these homes went to middle class Brazilian families who needed then and who previously had little hope of getting onto the property ladder. The programme was finally launched 2009 and was welcomed both by the Brazilian media and the public. The name given to this programme was Minha Casa Minha Vida, which translates to my house, my life. Within the programmes first year tens of thousands of homes were built and sold and the scheme was seen as a huge success. Now approaching it's forth year interest in the programme by foreign investors has grown significantly with investors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Asia and the Middle East investing heavily in the programme.

The reason that this programme is so popular with investors from around the world is that is marketed as the safest foreign real estate investment currently available, the programme is a backed by the Brazilian federal government and there are millions of families on the waiting list so that once a home is completed it is instantly sold and the investors funds, plus profits are returned, usually within 12 months. Investment is through actually developers who are building the homes and not through a third party investment company.
With any popular investment, once it is well known enough all the conmen and dodgy investment companies seem to come out of the woodwork keen to take your money and then vanish, so be cautious and bear in mind these simple points that could save you from being a victim of a con. You should be investing direct with a developer and not an investment company, the developer will use your investment to build one or more units and return your investment plus profit in around 12 months, minimum investment is usually between £23,000 and £25,000 and because the final sale price of these properties is set by the Brazilian federal government your profit is set also and genuine companies are offering between 18% and 22% depending on how many units you invest in, a company offering a too good to be true return on investments ( I've seen one dodgy company claiming 80% ROI) should be avoided like the plague.

In summary, anyone wanting to Invest in Brazil and it's booming economy should consider Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing Investments, if your cautious and fully research who your investing through you can turn a tidy profit from this safe and secure investment.
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Brazil Invest in New Transport Monitoring System

In a country as rapidly-developing as Brazil it's no surprise that the infrastructure is just as quickly expanding. Communications of all kinds get more and more important and more and more busy too, including the physical means of getting from one place to another, especially the land-based means. Many would argue, as the Brazilians do that all this requires some sort of overall co-ordination and monitoring if it is to be kept in at least minimal balance.

This is where ANTT, the country's National Transportation Agency comes in. The organisation has devised and developed a new kind of 'supersystem' for scrutinising and directing Brazil's railways and road systems. The task is not easy or small! Regarding the train network there are nearly 28,000 Km of rail (not including urban metro systems) of at least four different gauges, ninety-five percent not yet electrified. At this point it's important to note a new 10,000 Km set of rail networks, announced by the Brazilian Government in August.
With roads, if anything the picture is even more complex. Nearly two million kilometers criss-cross the country. About ten percent of it paved and/or tarmac, everything from multi-lane superhighways all the way down to modest, one lane suburban drives. The other ninety per cent is often little more than weather-ridden dirt-tracks. The whole network is huge and is in fact the fourth-largest in the whole world. The purpose of the new surveillance system is ambitious; it is nothing less than to enable the Government to oversee the whole pattern of road and rail transport in Brazil. This will include tracking interstate freight and shipments of all kinds, buses and passenger trains, monitoring traffic flow at 'normal' or 'exceptional times. The Government believes that the present (in many cases ad hoc) methods already in use do not meet the needs of a rapidly-expanding modern economy like Brazil. After all, the BRICS nation is the world's fifth largest in terms of both population and land area and soon hopes to move up to fifth in terms of GDP Economy too.
In preparation for the full scale implementation of the new transport monitoring scheme, several pilot schemes are already in operation. Perhaps the most notable to date is one on a stretch of railway line between the Port of Santos and Sao Paolo, Brazil's ( and indeed the southern hemisphere's) largest urban area. This focus has been deliberately chosen for its congestion and also for its potential for problems. After all, the oversee systems are mainly centered at the HQ of ANTT in Brazil and is directly connected to the monitoring mechanisms of MRS and ALL lines.

A vital component is the video camera network, doing a crucial job in assessing whether time constraints and interchanges of rolling stock are going as planned. As regards roads, clearly only the major or middle-ranging highways are eligible for this kind of co-ordinated overseeing. The system is called SNV (Sistema nacional de Viacao) – 'National Highway System' and is both extensive and fiendishly complicate, to say the least.

Needless to say, a more efficient land-transport managing system is in the interests of the whole economy, not least including long term investment and short term investment in this booming country and the main reason why individuals and companies are continuing to invest in Brazil and why Investment News publications and websites are around the world continue to list Brazil as the worlds number one investment destination.
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Public Education in Brazil : Over 41 Million now enrolled

According to the Brazilian ‘Diario Oficial da Uniao’ ( official gazette) the preliminary results of the Public Education Census for 2012 are now available. The total shows that very nearly 41.2 million young (or younger) people are now enrolled in publicly-run Preschools, Elementary schools, High schools, Special education and Adult education. Together these include both state and municipal provision and total about 21% of the entire Brazilian population.

As far as the actual school-age population is concerned, the data shows a significant and rising majority of the age group is catered for. This is well on the way to the Government’s target of full education quotas.

Minha Casa Minha Vida One Million Completions

Every Week Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff broadcasts her radio show ‘Café com a Presidente’ (Coffee with the President). Last week the main item was a particularly important one, affordable housing.



'Dilma' was reporting progress on the inspiring Government-sponsored ‘Minha Casa Minha Vida’ scheme ( in which EcoHouse is proud to be a major player). The target is for 3.4 million homes to be completed and delivered to people of modest means by 2014. This will make a really significant dent in the affordable housing deficit in Brazil, something that President Rousseff’s Government and its predecessor has been very concerned to achieve.

As of the end of August this year, the one million deliveries mark has been reached, an important milestone especially as, if anything that target has been reached ahead of schedule.

Higher Returns on Investments attributable to the Strong Position of Women in Brazil

As regards both their position in the economy and also in wider society, there's no doubt that women's contributions in Brazil are even more central and vital than they've ever been. In common with many other countries throughout Latin America, the status of females in the Country has steadily improved in recent decades. Equality is still not widespread however, despite the undoubted advances.

Since the most recent national constitution in 1988, both genders have, at least formally, enjoyed equal status in terms of rights and responsibilities. In practice, however, there are still some big differences between the two sexes. This is especially true in such areas as the economy, employment and public representation, let alone the (slightly!) greater contribution of males in the home. For instance, while it's illegal to discriminate between men and women in terms of wages, salaries and terms of employment, the average female wage tends to be lower in practice than the male one. Across the whole economy, the Labour and Employment Ministry has concluded that, worker-by-worker the average woman is paid about thirty per cent less than the average man on an hourly or yearly basis. Also the types of work undertaken tend to show quite marked gender patterns, despite numerous and growing exceprtions

This is noticeable at all levels. While Brazil has its first female President, Dilma Rousseff, less than ten percent of all other elected politicians at national level are women. The figure is higher at state and/or municipal level but only very slightly. It's a similar story in the judicial system where the UN found that only about five per cent of the most senior lawyers and judges were women. Elsewhere in society and the economy the pattern is an interesting one. Less than forty percent of Brazil's adult women are active, it seems, in the formal economy. But one must be careful because the alternative informal economy of unregistered and unregulated work is estimated to be large and growing.

As far as it can be measured, government statistics have found that most women in work are grouped into just a few main categories. For instance, 17% are occupied in wholesale or retail, 16% as domestic servants and employees in private households, 14% in agriculture or forestry pursuits and twelve percent in manufacturing, both large-scale and small-scale. In addition, a further 13% of women work in community services including health and social services and an additional ten percent in education, heavily concentrated at the low or middle levels of teaching or administration.

A really prominent example, though, of women's progress in recent years is in the field of education. Not only are there more female higher education students than males these days but the overall literacy figures throughout Brazil's society show that women slightly overtake men these days. In both cases the figure is just above 88%. This can only point positively to a workforce even better equipped these days to contribute well to the economy and to the life of the country on a wider scale. There's no doubt that this can only promise good results for returns on investment in Brazil, among many other aspects of this leading BRICS nation.

A highly respected Investment News Website is predicting that investments in Brazil will double over the next 12 Months, Many of these investments will be in the governments own Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing programme, meaning it's the ideal time to Invest In Brazil.

Politics and Governance of Brazil helping Investment in the Country Rise

Over the last three hundred years Brazil has experienced a number of different political systems. The earliest of these was when the territory was an agricultural colony, directly administered by the mother country Portugal. Gradually, immigration from Portugal and later from other European countries helped the population to swell with incomers from across the sea and the work and money they provided as important developmental investments in Brazil.



Over the last three hundred years Brazil has experienced a number of different political (and therefore economic) systems. The earliest of these was when the territory was an agricultural colony, directly administered by the mother country Portugal (and including only a relatively small coastal part of the current 3.3 million square mile nation). Gradually, immigration from Portugal and later from other European countries helped the population to swell with incomers from across the sea and the work and money they provided as important developmental investments in Brazil.

As the European domination spread northwards and westwards, governance changed as the scale of the dominion expanded. The local Amerindian populations were dominated, intermarried with, enslaved and dispossessed and to them were added the large numbers of African slaves brought in to the country to work on the white-owned farms and plantations. The Brazilian economy was taking off, although not of course on foundations any 21st century democrat would approve of. Nearly two hundred years ago, in 1822, Brazil provided a refuge for an exiled branch of the Portuguese royal family under Prince Pedro, the son of King John. The country formally became an independent empire under him and his successors as Emperor, which it remained for most of the nineteenth century until 1889. At that point there was a coup led by the military to establish an authoritarian type of 'republic'. This nominal structure, interspersed with dictatorships, lasted on and off in different forms for nearly a century.

More or less democratic elections were held for the first time in 1985. Since then there have been numerous parties and coalitions providing a number of different governments, nearly all of them compromises between many different factions. Broadly speaking, though most of the numerous parties can be said to fall into one or the other of two broad groups, internationally-oriented 'liberals' who hold that the country must be part of the wider world economy and nationalistic 'statists' who believe in state intervention in industry and commerce.

The commentator Ridenti has quoted the Cardoso Government as an example of the former, while the most recent Workers Party-led governments of ‘Lula’ da Silva or Dilma Rousseff represent the latter. However, these are broad brush-stroke classifications at best and elements of both do actually exist within either, although the proportions are different. At national level, the Government of Brazil has two Houses, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The third branch of administration, the so-called Executive is provided by the President and the members of the Cabinet. However, as a Federal Republic, there is a regional tier of government provided by the twenty-six states and their administrations plus an autonomous Federal District around the capital, Brasilia.

Finally there is the most 'local' manifestation of government and politics, the municipal level, comprising the mayors and councils running the towns and cities (no real legal distinction between the two). These three layers of government do have frictions and problems between them but generally speaking the interaction between the levels runs reasonably well. Each has its laid-out responsibilities, constitutions, budgets and laws and each can have an important effect on investment in Brazil, both domestic and international

A highly respected Investment News Website is predicting that investments in Brazil will double over the next 12 Months, Many of these investments will be in the governments own Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing programme, meaning it's the ideal time to Invest In Brazil.

Brazil resists the worldwide recession

By any standards, Brazil has made great strides in recent decades. In mid 2012 the Country has now reached the point where it is second only to the United States in terms of economies in the Americas. Not only that but in global terms, Brazil has now overtaken the United Kingdom to become the world's sixth biggest economy.

To a large extent, Brazil is proving able to resist the worst effects of the current world recession. This is partly because of the country's large and diverse range of exploitable natural resources within its own borders. A good example is petroleum; domestic deposits are now able to supply the country’s needs, having equalled demand for the first time in the year 2007 and exceeded it every single year thereafter. As regards the bedrock of any advanced economy, power supplies for industry, the cities and the rural areas alike are vital. In this particular aspect a positive economic statistic is that Brazil gets ninety percent of its needs from its own massive hydroelectric potential. Another good economic instance is the important range of mineral deposits of iron, manganese, nickel and gold, all of which supply important raw materials (or indeed vital media of exchange or trade!).

In terms of manufacturing, growth in the sector has been impressive. Products in this leading BRICS nation include petrochemicals, cars and aircraft, computers and a wide range of computer durables, with an increasing proportion of the domestic market rather than the foreign. Brazil's service sector has also helped the Country survive the worst buffeting of the global recession. The 'industry' accounts for between fifteen and twenty percent of GDP( Gross Domestic Product), depending on definition.

The country has enjoyed much better economic stability since the launching of the 'Plan Real' national programme in 1994 by President Franco and Finance Minister Cardoso. Since then, all administrations have had at least the option of much better control of both the economy and the currency, not perfectly of course, but at least the tools have been present. Last year in 2011 the prestigious 'Forbes 2000' list of top world public companies included no less than 36 Brazilian organisations. By far the largest of these was the oil and gas giant Petrobras with a total value of over $240 Billion (the fourth largest company in the world). Also included were mining company Vale ($185 Billion), Itau Unibanco (Bankers at $115B) and beverage producers Ambey at $85 Billion.

All this is very positive but what does it mean for people wanting to invest in Brazil? Well, one way of looking at it is to say that there are obviously two kinds. These are domestic and 'from overseas', of course. In both cases there are encouraging signs, despite inevitable fluctuations in inflation, interest rates and the Dollar/Real and the Dollar/Euro exchange rates. Generally, Brazil is moving steadily towards eventual 'first world' status. A result of this is that Alternative Investments in certain areas and industries remains an encouraging prospect for both large and smaller financers. This is likely to continue for quite some time.

Casa Nova Construction Updates

Construction work continues on the first phase of Casa Nova Residencial, New build crew lodgings have now been constructed for workers wishing to stay onsite rather than commute and our lucky mascot continues to roam the site.

Visit EcoHouse Developments for more Casa Nova, Minha Casa Minha Vida Construction updates

Important Brazilian Art Exhibition in London

Starting on 21st July there will be an important seven-week exhibition of Brazilian Art and Culture in London. The event is entitled in English; 'From the Margin to the Edge' and will include the work of more than 30 artists and other creative people from all over the South American country. It will be hosted by the prestigious 'Somerset House' artistic centre.

The contributors will include both well-known names and relative newcomers. The whole thing aims to give a huge boost to the awareness of Brazil's visual culture in Britain and the wider Europe and is expected to draw great international interest.

Words used by the Brazilians to describe the exhibition’s themes include ‘daring’, ‘innovative’ and ‘sophisticated’. So far the list of specific contributors has been a closely-guarded secret but no doubt it will be breached soon !

Brazilian Government to stimulate Construction

On Wednesday this week the Brazilian government is set to announce a range of measures designed to boost the economy.

These will be centred on the construction and road-building sectors and will involve investment in the large scale purchase of heavy-duty equipment. Commentators report that the bulk of the items will comprise over 1300 road graders and nearly 3600 backhoes. A road grader is a large machine designed to level a stretch of ground or roadway in order to make a flat surface. A backhoe is an even more versatile piece of equipment. It’s essentially a kind of hydraulic-powered ‘excavator’comprising a strong digging-bucket at the end of an articulated arm, usually mounted on a vehicle such as a tractor or similar.

The device has many uses, both in road building or other applications such as building construction. According to the federal Development Minister, Fernando Pimental, throughout the country local municipalities of up to 50,000 residents will be eligible to apply for the equipment. Applications for this purpose will be opened/received as from July.

EcoHouse Developments offer secure and ethical ways to Invest In Brazil through Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing, EcoHouse are at the forefront of property development in Brazil

FLIP 2012 launched in Brazil

For a decade now, the annual Paraty International Literary Festival ( known for short as ‘FLIP’ the initial of the Portuguese version of the title) has been an important feature on the South American scene. The event this year is running from 4th to 8th July in the beautiful coastal setting of Paraty, on the famous ‘Costa Verde’ just a couple of hours from downtown Rio.

This regular celebration of authorship attracts a wide range of artistic and literary talent from all around the world. Guests and visitors this year include Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen and Ian McEwan among many others. One of the central themes for discussion will be the celebrated Brazilian poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade who will feature in the opening programme.

Book retailers throughout the town have been preparing for the event with materials in Portuguese and many other languages. As well as celebrating achievement in writing, of course, an important focus of ‘FLIP’ has always been on helping to boost broader literacy throughout Brazil. This is an important component of the long term success of the Country’s society and of course its Economy.
EcoHouse Developments offer secure and ethical ways to Invest In Brazil through Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing, EcoHouse are at the forefront of property development in Brazil .

Brazil, Now a big hit with foreign investors

It's all we here about these days on the Investment News websites and forums, in the media or via word of mouth, The smart place to invest your money is Brazil, but why should we Invest in Brazil? is it safe and is any type of investment in the country a good one?

First of all remember to be vigilant, because once an investment type or product or even a country becomes popular with investors around the world and these investors start reporting good returns it opens the door to all the unscrupulous boiler room companies and dubious individuals eager to take your cash to line their own pocket and give you nothing in return, the worst culprits are the cold callers, recently highlighted on the BBC's Panorama program, who will call you up with an amazing deal for land or property offering a very high ROI ( Return on Investment) that is simply too good to be true. So if you are interested in getting good returns for your money, do your own research, never fall for the smooth talking cold calling salesmen and to be honest my advice is to never even engage in conversion with a cold caller, their pitches are all the same, a limited time deal that ends today, or he's chosen you to be part of a small group of investors that are all going to make it big, really! if it's so great why doesn't he invest himself? they will always want money today via a bank transfer or credit card and they all end the same way, you end up with either nothing or a worthless plot of land not worth the dodgy certificate that they sent you. It's also impossible to get your money back from these companies, they either change their phone numbers, disappear and set up under a new name or they are based in Spain and are not actually operating under UK legalisation.

These days there is no excuse to believe what someone simply tells you, no information is elusive or concealed, we have the internet search engines to find out what ever information we need about a product or a company, there are also forums and impartial investment news websites. and remember if an investment broker is offering a much higher rate of return than anyone else, then it's probably not legitimate, it's like finding a company online selling the laptop you want for £100 when every other website of store it selling it between £289 and £329, you can guarantee you'll be saying goodbye to your £100 and never seeing a laptop, Well, the same applies with investments.

So what should you be looking for if your want to invest in Brazil? What you should be looking for are well know investments that you know do actually work such as the Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing programme that is backed by the government in Brazil and the banks here in the UK. This scheme has been running now for three years and as long as you do actually invest in the scheme through a social housing developer and don't give your money to a cold caller claiming to be involved in the scheme then you are certain to make a profit and the good news is that investments are short term and you can get your money back , plus profits with 12 months, again don't wait for that cold call, do some research, google social housing brazil or minha casa minha vida, and when you find a developer that seems reputable don't stop there, ask to see completed units, units under construction, photos, videos, a due diligence report. And above all never hand over money direct. Ethical participants in the scheme hold you funds safely in an Escrow Facility here in the UK, protected by UK law, meaning your funds can only be used to build these homes and nothing else. Play it safe and cautious and you too can enjoy the benefits of investing in Brazil.

Minha Casa Minha Vida Progress to Date

About three years ago (March 2009 to be precise) the Brazilian Government finally launched a long-awaited scheme to try and ease the country’s chronic housing shortage. After long consideration it was decided that the main aim in this particular programme was to build and provide decent, affordable homes for people of modest incomes to buy.

It was intended that the approach would be a combined one of the type known as PPP (Public-private partnership) elsewhere in the world but that this co-operative venture between the two sectors would be one especially tailored for Brazilian conditions. One feature was the seeking of short to medium term private investment, with firm guarantees
.
Obviously other social housing schemes also existed in the country and these continued in parallel, mainly targeting the rental sector.

However, this new purchasers’ scheme was something quite novel. It was dubbed ‘Minha Casa Minha Vida’ (My house, My life) and was intended to provide people of the burgeoning lower middle classes with a property-owning stake in their country, for the very first time. To assist them, a whole new range of mortgages for individuals was created and launched, of a type which hadn’t existed up to then.
To put the scheme ’in a nutshell’, the aim is to build three million new homes of this kind by the end of 2014, carefully distributed throughout the regions and states of Brazil. The project is now well into its second phase of development and has proved, as expected, immensely popular. This is so much true that when local schemes are launched, there is a draw among eligible applicants to determine priority of allocation (at least among those on the more modest incomes of the two levels of eligibility).

There are firm qualifying conditions for both levels. The main one is to keep the scheme for the people it is intended for. For example, applicants on the basic rung may only have incomes up to three times minimum wage and be pre-allocated suitable mortgages by Caixa. Tighter conditions apply to the ‘upper tier’ of people on incomes of between 3 and 10 times the minimum wage. These particular homes are sold by real-estate agents according to ‘first come first served’.

There is no doubt that  Minha Casa Minha Vida is fulfilling its promise of making a significant dent in the country’s housing shortage. Brazilians acknowledge that there is still far to go before homelessness has been eradicated but they are justifiably proud of this scheme. The Ecohouse Group has, if anything, been even more proud to be in the forefront of this marvellous project

DILMA ANNOUNCES MINHA CASA MINHA VIDA CHANGE

Last week on International Women’s Day an important new change to Minha Casa Minha Vida regarding women was announced by President Dilma Rousseff. From now on, if a couple in the scheme separates or divorces, the woman will get priority of tenure and ownership of the house they bought with government help.

However, not everyone in the Administration agrees with this announcement or the thinking and sentiments behind it.

For instance, Ronaldo Cramer, the Attorney General sought to remind the President that interventions of this kind were not strictly legal and in fact were interfering in a matter beyond Government remit.




Defending the change, Dilma proclaimed that she sees an important part of her job as “doing more for women”. In Brazil, despite many strides in recent years and decades, full equality of the genders in society is still far from a reality.

In the Minha Casa Minha Vida programme, there are several levels of government assistance, depending on the income of the family involved.

This latest ruling in favour of the female partner is intended to apply to the most basic. This is where the household income is up to three times the statutory minimum wage, where government subsidises the purchase of the home by up to ninety-five percent of the price (mortgage, not gift).

Commentators remark that this new amendment to the terms of the deal are in keeping with other schemes designed to help those on modest incomes. This is quoted as including other programmes such as Bolsa Familia, where help is focused on heads of households. There are exceptions of course, but in most cases when a couple splits, it is of course the woman who remains with the children. It is that feature of Brazilian life that the government says is informing their thinking in these matters.

Dilma to attend BRICS Summit in India

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff will fly to India next Wednesday.

She’ll be taking part there in the latest (i.e. the fourth) summit of the former ‘BRIC’ association of countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The group’s name is now expanded to ‘BRICS’ reflecting the inclusion of the latest member, South Africa.  President “Dilma” is of course highly concerned with inward or domestic investing in Brazil and exploring how this can be boosted will be one of the most prominent aspects of her agenda for the conference.

The five countries are increasingly seen in the world as up-and-coming economies and societies although they do have their differences. In particular, Russia is something of a special case (after all, it was once the main part of the superpower USSR before a period of great hardship following break up of that Union).
China of course is moving ahead economically very quickly and some would say is on course to become a superpower. India too is making strides and its vast population is not far behind China’s (they are both well over a billion). South Africa is developing but is probably still the fifth of the group, though the first economic power of sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s in this context that the Brazilian President will seek to explore options for the advancement of her own country. The conference as a whole will be focusing this time on the theme of ‘sustainable development’ in three main areas, economic, social and environmental.

In other words, towards green economies linked to the eradication of poverty

The BRICS countries are influential more widely, too as two of their members; China and Russia are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

In parallel to the main BRICS Forum will be a meeting of the presidents of each country’s central bank.
All in all, the gathering in India will be an important one

Brazil sees growth of GMO production.

For those (domestic or foreign) organisations interested in Investing in Brazil, agriculture has always been viewed as something of a complex item. The same is true of course of individuals looking for a secure home for their money. On the one hand, people (and other creatures) will always need to eat, so a steady if unexciting market can be predicted.

On the other, agriculture for non-food bio-fuel production has seemed a very tempting alternative, though not without potential disadvantages, to say the least.

Then there is another, highly controversial aspect. Quite simply, it’s the rapid spread of genetically-modified organisms (GMO’S) used for crop growth. This has fierce advocates who see at as the magic solution to agriculture’s problems for decades to come. Alternately, there are those in Brazil and elsewhere who view the method as essentially gambling with the safety of millions of people. Among other things they quote how easy it seems for genetically-altered flora to ‘overspill’ into the growth cycle of other more ‘natural’
plant life nearby.

Whatever one’s opinion,the figures are huge. In 2011 in Brazil, according to CNA ( Brazil’s Agriculture and Livestock Confederation) GMO’s -in particular corn (maize) and soya- have spread rapidly. They now comprise nearly thirty percent of the country’s food growth, to a value of $R 58 Billion.

There’s no doubt that many see this newest aspect of agriculture to be an intriguing possibility for so-called ‘ Alternative Investments ’ in a growing part of the economy. If it works as expected, it will benefit many millions of people.

Two connected trends in Brazil’s Economy

Two different but connected trends deeply affect the economy of Latin America’s largest nation these days. One of them is the level of direct investing in Brazilian Industry and the other is the importance of a suitably-educated workforce. Both these aspects have featured in the news this week.

Regarding investment, President Dilma Rousseff will this week engage in a high-level meeting with twenty-seven of the country’s largest and most important employers. She will explore with them ways in which the productive sector of  Industry can be further boosted by more domestic capital investment. The aim will be to try and ‘warm-up again’ the recent cooling of Brazil’s commercial growth. While by no means alarming of course, growth in the economy has shown signs of not forging ahead quite as rapidly as hoped for.

Government sources have confirmed that Dilma and her administration still aim for economic expansion of at least four per cent this year. This will mean an increased input from industrialists who understand that ‘resting on laurels’ is not an option for the Country.

The issue of a well-educated workforce is linked to that of investment, of course. As well as financial capital being essential to keep up the pace of growth, so is human capital. In this context, commentators have noted with interest the findings of a recent survey conducted jointly by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and ‘Senai’ ( The National Service For Industrial Learning). The survey found a marked increase in the number of Brazilians annually who attended professional training courses over the last five years. The increase is over 80%. These people mostly constitute the new and expanding ‘middle class’ in Brazil.

The figures also indicate that the average income of people trained in needed skills like this earn on average about fifteen percent more than those who are not. They benefit both themselves and the economy at the same time. Therefore money spent on training for them could be regarded as the Best Investment Brazil (or any other nation) could make.

250 Million Mobile Phones now in Brazil

Brazil will pass an important economic milestone this month and one which says significant things about its society and economy. Easier and more widespread communications are becoming an increasing feature of national life. This is a fact which has important implications for such important aspects as Investing in Brazil and the growing awareness among ordinary people of important national initiatives designed to improve life.
Among the spread of these is the growing availability of health and welfare schemes plus of course social housing provision, a vital aspect in this country which still has a huge deficit.

An important background to all this is the strong and rapid growth in mobile phone (called ‘cell phone’ in the US) usage in the South American giant. Apparently the total number of lines for the devices will exceed a quarter of a Billion (250 million) for the first time this month. That’s the equivalent of well over one each, on average, for every one of the nation’s inhabitants, man, woman or child.

The total figure has been growing steadily at over one per cent per month and is expected to continue at this rate for some time.

There are regional variations of course. Brasilia, Sao Paolo and Rio for instance are above the average of 126 per one hundred inhabitants.

At the other end of the scale, the State of Maranhão remains the only one where the total falls below an average of one per person.

The growing figures have featured in the latest report from ANATEL (the well-known acronym for Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency).

The market share of service providers is interesting. Vivo has an almost 30% share of business with TIM a close second at 26.6%. These are followed by Claro (nearly 25%) and Hi with 18.6%. Apart from these ‘big four’ providers there are a number of tiny ‘minnows’ bringing up the rear with less than one per cent each.

Dilma to attend Summit and Book Fair in Colombia

The next international ‘Summit of the Americas' meetingwill take place in April in the city of Cartagena in Colombia. The delegation from Brazil will be led by President Dilma Rousseff, a fact announced on Thursday of this week by Juan Manuel Santos, her counterpart as President of Columbia. Senor Santos outlined ; “ Yesterday I had a conversation with the President of Brazil who will come to the Summit and participate in a discussion panel with both myself and the U.S. President, Barack Obama”.

The agenda for the panel has not yet been finalised and/or announced in detail. However, it's expected by many that it will include regional co-operation of the continent’s economies (including investing in Brazil) together with an exchange of views on social and environmental matters. For instance, Brazil’s highly successful ‘ Minha Casa Minha Vida ’ social housing scheme is much admired elsewhere in the Americas and other countries are seeking ways to tailor similar programmes to their own domestic needs.

Juan Manuel Santos went on to explain that the summit will be held on the 14th and 15th of the month in the caribbean port of Cartagena, following which Dilma will stay in the country for an extra time.

During this period she will officially open and inaugurate the International Book Fair in Bogota, the capital of Columbia. The Fair will this year celebrate its 25th Anniversary. But not only that, this year the ‘guest of honour’ country at the international literary festival will be Brazil and accordingly over 50 writers and musicians from the Country have been invited to the gathering.

Rice to provide new Bio-fuel for Brazil

An interesting and potentially lucrative home for 'alternative investments' has been launched in Brazil, South America. It relates crucially to energy supply in the leading BRIC (BRIC is an acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all seen  to be at a very similar stages of economic development, although Brazil seems to be racing ahead at the moment) Country. The background is that traditional everyday fuel sources have had more and more demands placed on them in recent times due to  global population growth, essentially finite supplies are now struggling to keep up with burgeoning demand in the developing economic countries. This is not just caused by ever-expanding Industry of course but also by the growing consumption of ordinary people too.

In this context the pioneering  and groundbreaking work being done by 'Vinema Multioles Vegetais' (a southern-based company located in Rio Grande do Sul state in North East, Brazil) is very important. The company's new approach to bio-fuels  uses by-products from the rice 'industry' to produce ethanol based bio-fuel products.

The simple but effective concept uses standard rice grains which have been deemed unsuitable for consumption as food (chalky, damaged, stained, etc) and converts them into a usable non-carbon fuel source. The process, by the way, overcomes a principal objection to bio-fuels which has always been that they use up far too much land and resources which should be used more urgently to produce food.

The Head of Research at Vinema is Vilson Machado who explained to listeners recently at a conference that the company plans to construct and install six different rice ethanol bio fuel refineries by the end of this decade. Each one of them will have the capacity to produce up to one hundred million Litres of the bio fuel every year, totalling well over half a billion Litres across the six refineries!  Every year Brazil grows and harvests over fifteen million tonnes of rice. About 15% of this rice is substandard and before now was deemed useless, but now this substandard  rice can potentially become a raw material for the many refinery plants around Brazil.

Needless to say the whole idea is attracting ever growing interest from potential investors large and small across the globe and also people and companies already involved in the main or subsidiary fuel industry.

The options now for Investing in Brazil (both domestic and international) have taken a new and interesting twist!

Brazilian Budget cuts will not affect Minha Casa Minha Vida

Substantial cuts in the national budget for Brazil have been announced by the Government. The total sliced off this year’s planned expenditure is a substantial fifty-five billion Reals.

However, the Ministers for Finance and Planning, Guido Mantega and Miriam Belchior, have reassured the country. These cuts to lower inflation and stimulate growth will only impact on administration and bureaucracy they claim and not affect important social programmes such as the hugely-popular Minha Casa Minha Vida affordable housing scheme.

The ministers outlined that about 14 Billion altogether of the total will be the reduction from the ministries of Health, Education, Defence and cities. Mr.Mantega explained that the cuts (up about ten per cent from last year’s) are necessary to allow a drop in interest rates. In turn this would hopefully lead to the government meeting its objective for the ‘primary surplus target’, a yearly aim to help bring down long-term government debt.

On the positive side, the Minister for Finance says he is anticipating for this year growth in the economy of about 4.5 %.but not everyone agrees. For example, many leading banks expect only about 3.5 percent while the UN sees only a GDP increase of two point seven percent.

However, there’s better news from the many infrastructural projects.These are expected by some people to actually sustain the nation’s economy. A key plank in this ‘structure’ will be the recently launched scheme for privatising the airports. And of course, last but by no means least, much is expected from the spin off for preparations for the football World Cup in two years’ time and the Olympics a couple more years after that.

Major new US investment in Brazil

There’s a major new international investment in the pipeline for Brazil. Yesterday (the 23rd) the giant US vehicle manufacturer General Motors confirmed a new plant to be sited in Santa Catarina. It’ll be in Joinville.

The Company’s investment amounts to the equivalent of over $R 700 million altogether ( US 417 million dollars to be exact) and the purpose of the new factory is to make gearboxes. These will be for both the domestic Brazilian market of course but also for an important level of export to Europe. In fact, the projected production of around 150.000 units per year will be aimed equally ('fifty-fifty') at both markets.

Marcos Munhoz, the Vice-President of General Motors Brazil summarised the new project as follows ' By investing in this new plant for gearboxes GM reaffirms the importance of Brazil as an international automotive manufacturing centre.' Many commentators agree with him. So does the workforce in the area. The new plant will of course mean a significant boost for employment and the expected creation of 350 new jobs will be, the company says, only the beginning.

If everything goes according to schedule, the new facility will be operating by 2014. Even if that target proves just a bit optimistic, it’s certainly true that whenever it comes, the economic benefits to the 350 and their families will be important. This is also true for the equal number of people (or more) who’d benefit from this in a secondary spin-off way, plus of course the various levels of government who’ll find their ‘tax income’ increased !

All this extra money at different levels will have important impacts on social and community programmes in the area. In particular these will include Social Housing/Ownership schemes ( Social Housing Brazil ) such as the immensely popular Minha Casa Minha Vida which many more people will be able to afford.

Many of Rio's legislators absent

The recent carnival holiday in Rio de Janiero was apparently not enough for many of the area’s parliamentarians. Following the five-day break, only 31 of the seventy deputies in Alerj (the Legislative
Assembly) turned up. Consequently, the gathering was found to be inquorate following a request for a count from Rep. Luiz Paulo. It therefore had to be ultimately cancelled...a very disappointing start to the renewed session, to say the least. In the other House (House of councillors) the situation was even worse because only 7 members were present to open the proceedings.

Now, to be fair, some of the absent politicians must have had legitimate excuses. Doubtless there were numerous genuine cases of illness of self or close family, attendance at weddings, baptisms or funerals, official business elsewhere and so on. So, some had real reasons for not attending. But what about all the others ?
With such a busy schedule and so much of importance to debate and discuss, many are dismayed at the lack of urgency. This is particularly worrying for those who keep an eye on the situation regarding important social projects such as Minha Casa Minha Vida, the revolutionary new affordable-housing programme.

Regarding the absent members, some are cynically (or realistically) unsurprised, such as Councilman Paul Pinheiro (PSOL). He reminded listeners that a lack of quorum (particularly at times like these)  is a common problem in municipal or regional legislatures. In general, he concluded, the chamber(s) filled-up only when a vote is seen as very important by members themselves or the executive.

The general problem is set to worsen this year, many fear. This is because 2012 is of course an election year. Incumbent representatives seeking re-election can therefore be expected, alas, to spend even more time outside the Assembly as they campaign to retain their seats.

WORLD CUP LAW DUE

It may be stating the obvious to remark that the forthcoming World Cup in 2014 will be a massively important sporting event for both host nation Brazil and the whole world. It goes without saying too that it will also have a huge impact on the economy of the country plus implications for both domestic and international investment. This is not least because of the many major construction and infrastructure projects already under way.

Another spin-off from the whole situation is the developing range of extra contacts with the UK that are developing because of it. Not least of these is the forthcoming visit by Prince Harry, an event featuring more in Brazilian news these days.  A 'peg' to hang his visit on is the aim to compare notes about Britain’s Olympic hosting this year and Brazil’s in 2016 but we can be sure the Football event in 2014 will feature in the discussions too.

Against all this background the specially-constituted Brazilian parliamentary committee for the '2014 law' is due to report very soon and present its draft ideas for the World Cup.

There are many aspects under consideration in the Bill, but perhaps the most controversial are those of particular interest to President Dilma Rousseff.

One of them is the intention to provide half-price tickets to purchasers over 60 years of age ( more mischievous commentators have remarked that that is a group that includes Dilma herself!). If the proposal is fully passed, ‘senior citizens’ would be able to get 50% discounts in all categories of ticket.

Another major debate is expected to focus on the question of whether alcohol can or should be served at the FIFA events, and if so at which ones and in what containers. Considering the numbers of people involved, this is an issue of quite important economic as well as social importance.

Foster is first woman president of Petrobras

On Monday of this week Maria de las Gracias Foster was officially inaugurated as the first-ever female President of Petrobras, the giant Brazilian oil company. To give it its full (but not often used) name, Petróleo Brasileiro is Latin America’s largest company by far. It’s also certainly in the world top ten (but the exact ranking depends on different definitions of ‘top’).

Petrobras is about two-thirds owned and controlled by the Brazilian public sector, to the value of almost $US 225 billion. The vast majority of this is via direct government possession of shares. It’s not just a domestic enterprise but, also, increasingly, an international one with growing links overseas, particularly with Africa and Asia. By any measure the company is an important contributor to the national economy and influences many decisions regarding both domestic and international investment in Brazil today.

The company is widely diversified, with a full range of activities in exploration, production, refining, transporting and processing of petroleum, including both land-based and maritime installations. The company also prides itself on its environmental approach and therefore sees itself as providing opportunities for ethical investments in Brazil.

At her appointment, the new Petrobras president emphasised her commitment to the linked benefit of both to her company and Brazil as a whole. She thanked her mentor, national President Dilma Rousseff who was present at the occasion and pledged her loyalty. For her own part, President ‘Dilma’ complimented Ms.Foster and praised her career of over thirty years within the organisation as providing an excellent basis for her new leadership role. She concluded by expressing pleasure that she (the first woman to lead Brazil) could be present to welcome the first woman to lead Petrobras.

SECOVI HAS NEW PRESIDENT

Secovi (the Brazilian Association for Housing) has a new President. He is the prominent businessman Claudio Bernardes and he formally takes office today, Monday 13th.

The organisation is a very influential body which represents companies in the Brazilian real estate ‘industry’ and their new chief is a man regarded by many as an ‘urbanism’ specialist. He’s seen as someone with his finger well and truly on the pulse of the property market.

Mr. Bernardes is concerned with the changing dynamic in property occupation (and therefore demand) patterns of towns and cities. As a part of this he notes that supply and demand are even more important factors than most people realise ; the acute shortage of so-called ‘affordable’ homes for the expanding middle class is tending he thinks, to keep price-rises in many areas faster than they ideally need to be.
However, the rapid expansion of schemes such as ‘Minha Casa, Minha Vida’ will help to alleviate this. As he says himself “The Minha Casa Minha Vida scheme is very important to help the country reduce the housing deficit. This model is a winner and will continue to help wipe out the deficit” He emphasises that throughout the sector prices generally won’t fall, just level off the rate of rises in future.

The new Secovi boss firmly believes that much more needs to be done as the shortage of property in Brazil is still serious. The shortfall is still somewhere between six and ten million units, he thinks This can be tackled, of course, but first two main problems have to be addressed, land allocation and infrastructure and materials availability.

Both of these require co-ordinated approaches by both government and the private sector. If all that happens, the deficit can be tackled in a reaonable time.

New Minister for Women

An important item of Brazilian news today is that a new government minister has taken over at the helm of Brazil’s ‘Special Secretariat for Policies for Women’. She is Eleonora Menicucci and her appointment has been warmly made and welcomed by President Dilma Rousseff.

Dilma emphasised that while Eleonora Menicucci will bring her unique talents and energy to the role she will nonetheless act within a framework of collective government policy and guidelines. She reminded listeners that the coalition administration does in fact have very little in the way of disagreements founded on political or religious bases.

The President and Ms. Menicucci are old friends and colleagues of many years’ standing. In fact they were both persecuted by the former military dictatorship and imprisoned together (and indeed shared a cell for a time) in the so-called ‘Tower of the Maidens’ wing in Tiradentes Prison in Sao Paolo.

During the inauguration last week, both women complemented each other and reminisced about the mutual support they gave each other during those awful times. However. The sociologist and pro-feminist Eleonora Menicucci reminded her audience that she has had many other experiences in life which she can also bring to her new responsibility.

She has been, for example, a Professor of Public Health and also pro-rector of ‘UNIFESP’ (Brazil’s Federal University of Sao Paolo).

Her CV further includes a Doctorate in Political Science from USP in Brazil plus post doctorate studies in Health and Women’s issues at Italy’s University of Milan.

Her appointment will be seen as very positive for the advancement of women in the country, especially regarding their position in the workplace and as consumers. This inevitably implies their increased participation in such schemes as the affordable housing programme ‘ Minha Casa Minha Vida ’
The appointment of Eleonora is therefore seen by observers as continuing the policy of the administration to include well-qualified women (and men!) at the highest levels of public prominence.

WIKIPEDIA IN BRAZIL…NEW INITIATIVE

It would be hard to overstate the importance of the internet for Brazil. This is not just for the country’s business and those local or international investment firms involved in it. It is also vital for many millions of ordinary citizens who surf, research and (increasingly) shop and buy on line these days.

Brazilian news this week reports a couple of interesting and potentially very important ‘cyberspace’ developments. The main one involves Wikipedia.

This week in Sao Paolo the annual I.T. festival ‘Campus Party’ was held. This is an international idea but those attracted and interested by the Brazilian ‘branch’ have been rapidly increasing in numbers. At the gathering, Kul Wadha spoke. Mr.Wadha is the main director of Wikipedia’s ‘parent’ organisation, the Wikimedia Foundation.

He explained that his group is planning to open a dedicated office and organisation for Brazil, a country that he says is an important priority. “..we’re trying to figure out things that we can develop specifically for the Country” he remarked. Wadha explained that while Wikipedia is used by a significant and growing number of people in the country, actual contribution of articles is very low. It seems that only about two per cent of Brazilians who use the site have actually contributed or edited an article for it. This figure amounts to only about one-third the world average and is a problem that Wikimedia/Wikipedia hopes will be alleviated by this new in-country focus within Brazil.

To take the initiative forward, a local executive director will shortly be hired. A main priority of his or her initial work will be liaising with universities, museums and other educational institutions to try and boost the numbers of useful articles provided in Brazilian Portuguese.