Eike Batista, the man who very famously loved being Brazil’s richest, has now famously become a symbol of the problems in Brazil’s economy. Should that be the case? In this profile I did for the Los Angeles Times, sources explain that his catastrophic losses this year were in part related to his, erm, shall we(…)
Arquivo - Tag: Economy
Did you know Brazil is expensive?
When I moved here two years ago from London, I was shocked by the big increase in cost. Brazil is now an extremely expensive country, and it has been for a few years now. Numbers that came out last week ranking São Paulo the world’s 12th-most expensive city – above London, Paris, and New York – will come as(…)
The northeast is back
Walk around Rio or São Paulo these days, and it’s easy to feel the economic boom Brazil has been enjoying this century. But what region of Latin America’s largest country has done the best? The Northeast. In the last decade, the traditionally poor Northeastern states have grown four times as fast as the richer areas(…)
Brazil investment advice – agriculture
If you have a long-term interest in Brazil, where is a good place to put your money? That is, you are looking past currency risks and short-term volatility and want a good, safe investment? Over lunch recently, a high-ranking executive gave me a strikingly obvious bit of off-the-record advice: “There might be a day when(…)
Is the real problem infrastructure?
Continuing on yesterday’s theme, here is another major consideration: I report in this Los Angeles Times cover story that Brazil’s infrastructure is woefully inadequate. Investments here could not only improve prospects for the World Cup in 2014 and the Rio 2016 Olympics, but also make Brazilian products more competitive and give those of us that(…)
The death of Brazilian industry – three theories
President Dilma’s meeting with Barack Obama today may have been largely symbolic, perhaps even a wasted opportunity. But she did manage to lodge Brazil’s major complaint with the US at the moment: that Washington has been devaluing the dollar, making Brazilian products too expensive to export. Of course on an economic level, this will get(…)
Brazil tourism: forget the gringos
How has tourism been doing in Brazil? Just fine, much like the rest of the economy. But that’s not because of foreigners coming to visit the beautiful country. We haven’t really been able to afford that recently. It’s the locals. The numbers of Brazilians travelling around their own country has shot up in the last(…)
Everything golden again for Brazil’s richest man
Things are looking a lot better for Eike Batista. Last week the world’s 8th-richest man was still helping defend his son, Thor, against charges he was at fault in a car accident that claimed the life of a cyclist. Neither Thor nor Eike denied that the 20-year old’s Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren struck 30-year old Wanderson Pereira(…)
Bad week for Chevron, important case for Brazil
It’s never good news when you find out that the Brazilian government is prohibiting you from leaving the country so you can be tried for environmental crimes. But this is about much more than just the fate of 17 unhappy executives at Chevron, the major US oil company. The project to extract oil from Brazil’s(…)
World’s sixth largest economy, but not so hot
Well, it is official. Yesterday’s numbers reveal Brazil is the world’s sixth-largest economy, having beaten out the United Kingdom, and with a shot at surpassing France to be number five by the end of the year. But in reality, this was a very bad week for economic news in Brazil. We learned that the country’s(…)
