From now on Brazil will have its own pages on Atlantico Weekly, which of course does justice to the country’s size and importance. The first issue of Brazil Weekly is now online. It deals with political, economic, business and related news in the same way as you may expect from Atlantico Weekly.
Go to Brazil Weekly
FINANCE
Surinam insurance company Self Reliance announced it will take over Clico-Surinam, another local insurance company that was hit hard by the global crisis. The bail-out by Self Reliance was made possible with financial support from the Surinam Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Surinam (DWT).
PORTS
A trio of local banks, DSB-bank, Hakrinbank and RBTT will loan an amount of 28 million SRD to Surinam Port authority NV Havenbeer. This sum is needed to co-finance a second phase of the expansion and improvement of Paramaribo’s Nieuwe Haven Terminal (DWT).
AIR TRAVEL
SLM, Surinam Airways, is considering hiring a second Airbus A340-300 for the expansion of its route Paramaribo-Amsterdam and the development of new routes to the US, Canada and Europe (DWT).
ECONOMY
Two years ago, oil-rich Angola was reckoned to have one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. In both 2006 and 2007 real GDP had surged by around 20%, and double-digit growth rates were widely predicted for at least the next five years. Then oil prices crashed with the global recession. Last year the economy is estimated to have grown, at best, by 1.5%. But it is bouncing back. Some say Angola will be among the world’s top five performers again this year, with growth exceeding 8%. Read the full story in The Economist.
Though Angola wants to woo foreign investors, everything seems contrived to deter all but the most intrepid and patient. Getting a visa, for a start, can take many months. Finding somewhere to stay in Luanda, a capital city built for 500,000 that is now home to 5m, is not much easier. A single hotel room, if you can find one, will set you back $500-600 a night. Read about the virtues you need for doing business in Angola in The Economist.
ATLANTICO
The political and economic rivalry between SA and Angola is expected to graduate into a battle for dominance in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) , says US-based global intelligence think-tank Stratfor (BusinessDay).
BANKING
Standard Bank sees Angola as key growth market. Warming relations between Angola and SA and the ties Africa’s biggest bank by assets has with China and Russia — rivals in attempts to secure access to Angolan resources — should help the new business, a senior executive said (BusinessDay). Africa’s biggest bank by assets plans to invest millions of dollars in Angola to set up a commercial and investment bank and offer retail banking services (News24).
BUSINESS
A new production line for soft drinking production will be operating from May this year at Sefa factory, that will increase the company’s production capacity from 3,000 to 10,500 cases per day (Angop).
PORTS
Lobito Port, in the central Benguela Province, will handle over 12,000 tons of load per year, its director told ANGOP.
OIL
Angola and India have signed a memorandum of understanding in the oil sector, aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation, mainly in the entrepreneurial field (ANGOP).
AIR TRAVEL
Angolan airline Taag plans to carry 1.7 million passengers per year as of 2012 as compared to 1.1 million currently, the coordinator of the company’s management commission, Pimentel de Araújo said (Macauhub).
INVESTMENT
The Angolan government approved 39 investment projects valued at a total of US$7 billion. In a statement released after a Council of Ministers meeting, the government said that the investments were focused on the retail, real estate, telecommunications, energy and transport sectors (Macauhub).
Portuguese group Unicer plans to invest US$120 million, US$85 million of which in the first phase, in construction of a beer factory in Angola’s Bengo province, the group’s representative in Angola, José Teixeira said in Luanda (Macauhub).
Brazilian group Odebrecht is analysing the possibility of investing in a petrochemical project in Angola, the group’s chief executive told Brazilian newspaper Estado de São Paulo (Macauhub).
ECONOMY
The government has expressed its satisfaction with the improved raking of Cape Verde on the 2010 Economic Freedom Index released by The Heritage Foundation /Wall Street Journal, and has downplayed the drop in one slot since last year (A Semana).
European Union
Cape Verde’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities, José Brito, met in Brussels with European Union diplomatic officials for the first evaluation meeting between Praia and Brussels following the Lisbon Treaty (A Semana).
BANKING
The new board of directors of Cape Verdean bank Banco Comercial do Atlântico, owned by Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), is considering the possibility of a capital increase this year, the bank’s new chairman said (VisaoNews).
Also Cape Verdean bank, Banco Interatlântico plans to increase its capital from 600 million to 1 billion Cape Verdean escudos (from 5.4 million to 9.06 million euros), the bank’s chairman said (Macauhub).
TRAVEL
TAP-Air Portugal is waiting for operational conditions to start flying directly from Lisbon to the Cape Verdean island of Sao Vicente, the representative of the Portuguese airline said (Macauhub).
POLITICS
Gandhi had to wait until 34 years after his death before he appeared on cinema screens around the world. George Bush junior, by contrast, was the victim of an Oliver Stone biopic during the last year of his presidency. Now a Brazilian director, Fábio Barreto, has done the same for Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as he starts his final year of office (The Economist).
It is 25 years since Brazil moved from dictatorship to democracy, but its army remains surprisingly unreformed. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was rudely reminded of this just before Christmas when he signed a decree calling for a truth commission to investigate torture, killings and disappearances during military rule between 1964 and 1985. Within 24 hours the heads of the three armed forces threatened to resign along with Nelson Jobim, the defence minister. Lula seemed quick to retreat. He was reported as saying the government would think again (The Economist).
Speculation is intensifying over the political future of Henrique Meirelles, Brazil’s central bank chief, as October’s general elections draw closer, raising concerns over the continuity of monetary policy (Reuters).
2010 will mark the election of the 36th official President of the Brazilian Republic. Although the official calendar for campaigning does not begin until October 3rd, the political atmosphere is already dense with debate. The deadline for candidate registry isn’t until July 5th, but with parties looking to affiliate themselves to recent Brazilian political triumphs – such as the Olympics – a handful of pre-candidates for the presidency are already popping into the limelight. Amongst the many who plan to run, the current forerunners are: Marina Silva (PV-AC), José Serra (PSDB-SP), Dilma Rousseff (PT), and Ciro Gomes (PSB-CE). Check them out at Rio Times.
ECONOMY
Brazilian households like to buy the newest gadget and prefer to spend on items that will enhance their short-term wellbeing rather than save for a rainy day. This partly explains Brazil’s low saving rate – which has fluctuated around 17 per cent of GDP over the last decade, a number that contrasts sharply with China’s 45-50 per cent. Read the view by Arminio Fraga.
Brazil’s economy should grow 5.2 percent in 2010, the country’s finance minister said, underscoring a strong rebound in Latin America’s largest economy (Reuters).
The European Union and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc led by Brazil and Argentina, are studying restarting talks this year to reach a free-trade agreement, an EU trade official said (Bloomberg).
Brazilian exports to the US fell by 42 percent in 2009, to US$15.7 billion, with China replacing the US as Brazil’s top export market, with US$19.9 billion of exports, or more than 13 percent of all Brazil’s exports, according to figures released by the Ministry of Trade (Rio Times).
BANKING & FINANCE
Banco Bradesco, Brazil’s second-largest private-sector bank, said it agreed to buy Mexican bank Ibi Mexico for an undisclosed sum, marking its first international foray in retail banking as it seeks to take advantage of rising credit demand (Reuters).
Brazil’s state-run utility holding Eletrobras plans to raise $4 billion this year to hedge costs associated with the commercialization of energy from the giant Itaipu dam. However, that money will not go to paying overdue dividends, company president Jose Antonio Muniz said. Eletrobras will pay those dividends from its own funds, he said. The company agreed earlier on Friday to pay 10.33 billion reais ($5.65 billion) in overdue dividends dating to the 1970s (Reuters).
Qatar is interested in buying minority stakes in Petrobras and Banco do Brasil, a Brazilian cabinet official told Reuters. The country’s investment agency already owns a $300 million stake in Brazil’s Vale, the world’s largest iron ore miner (Reuters).
OIL
Brazilian oil and gas start-up company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes saidit had found signs of hydrocarbons in a well in the southern part of the offshore Campos basin (Reuters).
MINING
A Brazilian scientist is developing a method of purifying contaminated waste water that accumulates at mining sites by using a genetically modified bacteria that can absorb heavy metals (Reuters).
INVESTMENT
Carrefour SA, Europe’s biggest retailer, plans to invest 2.5 billion reais ($1.4 billion) in Brazil in the next two years to expand in the north and northeast regions of Latin America’s largest economy (Bloomberg).
REAL ESTATE
Housing prices in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will jump as much as 40 percent in the next year as record-low interest rates and a growing Brazil economy boost demand, according to the chief executive officer of Gafisa SA (Bloomberg).
AIR TRAVEL
The continuing growth of the domestic airline industry has stimulated investors and over the last few months more airlines have obtained permits to begin operations while others have obtained concessions for new domestic routes (Rio Times).
POLITICS
Cabinda’s once-forgotten separatists won new notoriety with their deadly attack on Togo’s football team, embarrassing Angola’s government, which has long tried to quell the movement, analysts said (Mail & Guardian).
Angola’s ruling MPLA party used its two-thirds parliamentary majority to approve a new constitution which critics say will increase President Jose Eduardo dos Santos three-decade-long grip on power. For the main points in the new constitution see News24.
Cabindans, cut off from most of Angola by a thin strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the mighty Congo river, have deep and complex grievances against central government. But the biggest is oil. Read the feature article at Reuters.
ECONOMY
The Angolan economy is expected to post growth of 6.5 percent in 2010 and 8.0 percent in 2011, according to projections from the World Bank (Macauhub).
Angola’s inflation quickened in December to 13.99 percent year-on-year from 13.57 percent in November, due to higher transportation and food prices, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said (Reuters).
Luanda is considered the world’s most expensive city for foreign personnel, yet this situation could be reversed with more business competition and better basic infrastructures that would allow companies to reduce operating costs, indicate Angolan researchers and managers (Macauhub).
MINING
The demand for diamond on the world market will lead to the doubling of production until 2020, due to the recovery of the US economy and the needs from emerging countries such as India and China, a source from the sector has announced (ANGOP).
Escom Mining plans to invest US$750 million in the diamond sector in Angola, by 2014, added to the US$430 million invested since 2001, the Espírito Santo group company said in Lisbon (Macauhub).
AGRICULTURE
At least 15,000 tonnes of coffee were harvested during the 2009 campaign, thereby overcoming the 5,000 tonnes obtained during the previous season, in a deed that creates new medium-term perspectives for the sector, with view to achieve 50,000 tonnes/year of commercial coffee (ANGOP).
OIL
The total production of crude-oil in Angola, from January to November 2009, reached 601,492,344 barrels, which represents a significant decrease in comparison to the same period of 2008, in which was produced 635,755,166 barrels (ANGOP).
Angola was the second-biggest supplier of oil to the People’s Republic of China in the first ten months of last year, behind Saudi Arabia, providing around 15 percent of the country’s oil imports, the China Daily newspaper reported (Macauhub).
BANKING
Angolan bank, Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola (BDA) in 2009 approved funding for 102 projects with an overall value of 20.5 billion kwanzas (around US$243.5 million), a year on year increase of 108 percent, the bank said (Macauhub).
REAL ESTATE
The Luanda International Fair (FIL), plans in May to host the 1st edition of the Angola Real estate Fair (SIMA), the project’s organisers said (Macauhub).
ATLANTICO
Angolan state oil company Sonangol plans to include Brazil in its expansion plan and to invest up to US$1 billion in the country, the Sonangol concessions manager said in Rio de Janeiro (Macauhub).
POLITICS
In the year in which Cape Verde will celebrate the 550th anniversary of its discovery, the 35th anniversary of its independence and the 20th anniversary of the opening of its political system, January 13, Freedom and Democracy Day, is finally beginning to shed its party connotations, with civil society taking on a greater role in commemorating the date (A Semana).
A possible change in Cape Verde’s governing party as a result of the 2011 legislative elections could end up dampening foreign investors’ “enthusiasm” for Cape Verde, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s report on the country for the 2010.2011 period (A Semana).
The ambassadors of the world’s Portuguese language countries accredited in the People’s Republic of China will meet in Macau on February 1 and 2 for the 5th meeting of the Forum for Economic and Commercial Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-Speaking World (A Semana).
ECONOMY
The national minimum wage will likely be set at between 15,000 and 21,000 escudos per month, according to a study carried out by labor union UNTC-CS that will be presented Tuesday, January 26 (A Semana).
Four articles in Cape Verde’s current Labor Code are to be altered. A proposal in this sense was approved in the most recent Social Coordination Council meeting, and the government believes it will bring “crystal-clear gains for both workers and employers.” (A Semana)
Ministry of the Economy, Growth and Competitiveness Fátima Fialho believes that the impact of the restrictions placed on the tariff benefits attributed to Cape Verde by the United States as a part of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is practically negligible, considering the relatively insignificant value of Cape Verdean exports to the US (A Semana).
Cape Verde, according to World Bank’s projections, saw a slowdown in growth to 3.3 percent in 2009 (compared to 5.9 percent the previous year) and is due to recover to 4.4 percent growth this year rising to 5.4 percent in 2011.
The inflation rate recorded in Cape Verde in 2009 was 1 percent, 5.8 percentage points below the 2008 figure, the island country’s National Statistics Institute (INE) has announced (Macauhub).
Cape Verde has risen one position on the 2010 list of the Doing Business report, though it is still close to the bottom of the table in which countries are ordered according to the ease of doing business (Macauhub).
BANKING
The Ministry of Finances will, in the name of the government, underwrite a 5% financial participation in the capital of the future Social Bank of Cape Verde with 300 million escudos in its initial phase (A Semana).
ATLANTICO
The government of Spain’s Canary Islands autonomous region and a group of construction companies have announced the hiring of four specialists in international bids to strengthen the region’s presence in projects in West and sub-Saharan Africa, including Cape Verde (A Semana).
INVESTMENT
The Cape Verdean government is studying plans to implement a forestry project on Sal, one of the country’s most arid islands, which will make use of residual water distribution potential (Visao News).
The government of Cape Verde is set to launch an international tender next week for the construction of three dams to hold rainwater, the chairman of the National Institute for Management of Water Resources said in Praia. António Pedro Borges said that the dams would be funded by Portugal as part of a financial package of 100 million euros (Macauhub).
The Cape Verdean National Communications Agency (ANAC) has granted a license to SGPM to be a new Internet and cable television operator, the PANA news agency reported (Macauhub).
The Portuguese company Martifer Solar plans to install in Cape Verde two photovoltaic solar energy complexes with a power capacity of 7.5 megawatts (MW), the Martifer group has announced (Macauhub).
TOURISM
Cape Verde’s Tourism Strategy Plan aims to achieve a flow of 500,000 tourists per year by 2013, causing a significant rise in associated employment and in tourism’s share of the gross domestic product, the local press reported (Macauhub).
ECONOMY
Brazil’s government will turn its focus to investment and away from stimulus measures, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, as the country’s economy makes a robust exit from recession (Reuters).
Brazil’s state development bank BNDES will focus its 2010 lending on energy projects and infrastructure to support continued economic growth, bank president Luciano Coutinho said (Reuters).
Brazil’s tax collection may rise 11 percent next year, allowing the government to boost spending while still meeting its fiscal targets (Bloomberg)
RIO
‘The Olympic Effect’ may already be well underway in Rio’s real estate market with prices expected to double in many of the city’s neighborhoods by 2016, but values in one of the most fashionable parts of the city will receive another significant boost later on this month (Rio Times).
BUSINESS
American agribusiness company Bunge is more than doubling its sugar cane milling capacity in Brazil, by acquiring sugar and ethanol producer Moema for US$452 million in stock (Rio Times).
Brazilian lender Itau Unibanco is considering buying stakes in one of the United Kingdom banks rescued by the government during the height of the global credit crisis of 2008, the U.K. Sunday Times reported (Reuters).
Brazilian mining company Vale expects iron ore production in 2010 to reach about 300 million tonnes, Chief Executive Roger Agnelli said (Reuters).
Brazil’s state-controlled energy firm Petrobras bought a 40.4 percent stake in a mill that produces ethanol biofuel from sugar cane, the company said in a filing with the local securities market regulator (Reuters).
Goldman Sachs plans to start a private pension fund in Brazil in the first quarter of 2010. New York-based Goldman is negotiating a partnership with an insurance company to distribute the fund (Bloomberg).
PORTS & AIRPORTS
LLX Logistica, the Brazilian logistics firm controlled by billionaire Eike Batista, said it obtained a loan of 408 million reais ($234 million) for its Sudeste Port from state development bank BNDES (Reuters).
Brazil’s government will raise investments in airports to prepare for the 2014 World Cup, Budget Minister Paulo Bernardo said. Brazil may have 10 percent more passengers during this period, Bernardo said in an interview to government radio Radiobras (Bloomberg).
OIL
Brazilian oil and gas start-up company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes said it had found signs of more hydrocarbons in well 1-OGX-3-RJS, off Rio de Janeiro’s coast in the southern part of the Campos basin (Reuters).
ENERGY
Demand for electricity in Brazil will probably soar next year as factories ramp up output and household income continues to rise, a government agency said (Reuters).
ECONOMY
Traffic defines life in Luanda, Angola’s rapidly expanding capital. Traffic and fresh concrete. In many minds, Angola remains synonymous with the Africa of war, a bullet-strafed nation where civil conflict raged for so long that it seemed beyond redemption. Read the report in the Mail & Guardian.
Angola is in the international spotlight. From magazine covers to billboards, messages of “Viva Angola” and “Proud to be Angolan” in Luanda mark the war-scarred Southern African nation’s rising international presence. Read another report in the Mail & Guardian.
OIL
Angola will not hold a bidding round for new oil concessions for at least another year, the head of state-owned oil company Sonangol said (Reuters).
The total production of crude-oil in Angola, from January to November 2009, reached 601,492,344 barrels, which represents a significant decrease in comparison to the same period of 2008, in which was produced 635,755,166 barrels (ANGOP).
Angola’s oil minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos said that the new refinery located in Lobito would only be concluded in 2014 or 2015. Angolan newspaper Jornal de Angola reported that the new refinery was intended to make up for the current refining deficit of around 50 percent (Macauhub).
MEDIA
A company owned by the daughter of Angola’s president agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in Portugal’s pay TV and Internet company Zon in a deal that also marks the beginning of Zon’s expansion to Africa (Reuters).
Zon Multimedia SA, which announced a venture to provide pay-television service in Angola, said the African country’s market has the potential to grow several times over (Bloomberg).
STOCK EXCHANGE
Angola may list parts of its state-run oil company, Sonangol SA, in 2012. Sonangol is considering listing units in Johannesburg and New York, as well as in Luanda once the exchange opens, he said (Bloomberg).
PORTS
At least USD 3.2 million were invested throughout the year 2009 in the rehabilitation of the Port of the southwest Namibe Province, thus enabling the reclassification and improvement of the first 240 metres of the wharf (ANGOP).
AIRPORTS
Over 500,000 passangers will travel every year through the newly inaugurated Mukanka International airport, in Lubango, southern Huila province, against the 120,000 handled by the old airport, according to Angolan Transport minister, Augusto da Silva Tomás (ANGOP).
INVESTMENTS
Sab Miller Angola plans to invest US$120 million in a tin can factory that is due to start operating in October, 2010, in Viana municipality, Luanda province (Macauhub).
Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil said Wednesday it planned to invest, in 2010, in the construction of a factory to manufacture nails and electro-soldered mesh in Benguela, Angola (Macauhub).
BANKING
Net profits in Angola’s banking sector posted growth of 98 percent in 2008, according to an annual study by KPMG about the banking sector in Angola (Macauhub).
Season’s greetings to all readers of Atlantico Weekly!
Atlantico Weekly is proud to present a short forecast for Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, South Africa and Surinam in 2010.
OIL & GAS
Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars more per year for imported Bolivian natural gas after a price dispute that has dragged on for years (Reuters).
Brazilian increases in oil production, along with Russia, is threatening the OPEC’s (Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries) control over oil prices. The current view of petroleum reserves may be deceptive as production, and most of all exportation, seem to be the determinant variable of the oil market equation (Rio Times).
Petrobras will get a 2.6 billion-real ($1.46 billion) loan from Brazil’s development bank, known as BNDES, to help finance construction of the Suape petrochemical complex (Bloomberg).
BUSINESS
Brazil’s CSN offered to buy Portuguese cement producer Cimpor for 3.86 billion euros ($5.6 billion) as the steelmaker slowly diversifies from its core business outside its home base (Reuters).
Brazilian meat processor Marfrig Alimentos received European Union regulatory approval for its takeover of local poultry export company Seara in a deal worth about $900 million (Reuters).
Fiat’s commercial vehicles unit Iveco has won a $3.37 billion contract to supply 2,044 armoured personnel carriers to the Brazilian army, Iveco said (Reuters). The vehicles will be produced in Brazil.
Junior miner MMX, owned by Brazilian magnate Eike Batista, will invest up to $1.2 billion to more than triple iron ore production capacity by 2015, the company’s president said (Reuters).
POLITICS
Brazil’s central bank chief, Henrique Meirelles, said he was not interested in running for the vice-presidency in next October’s election and had not decided whether to step down in April (Reuters).
The governor of Brazil’s central Minas Gerais state said he would no longer seek to become the presidential candidate for the opposition PSDB party in next October’s election (Reuters).
Brazil’s president will propose a truth commission this month to investigate torture during the country’s 1964-85 military dictatorship. The move by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could mark a rare step by Brazil toward tackling the thorny question of dictatorship-era abuses (Reuters).
FINANCE
As Brazil emerges stronger than many other countries from the deepest global recession in decades, the time may have come for the largest private equity firms to plant roots in Latin America’s biggest economy (Reuters).
Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s largest bank by assets, is in talks to buy a stake in Argentina’s Banco Patagonia in what would be the state-run bank’s biggest international foray (Reuters).
SECURITY
One minute Victor Javier was rapt in a carefree game of beach soccer; the next he was a hapless victim of Rio de Janeiro’s “shock of order” crackdown. Rio state this month hired former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who takes credit for cleaning up the Big Apple, to help advise it on the Brazilian city’s crime problems (Reuters).
ECONOMY
After months of bullish forecasts from analysts in Brazil and around the world, the economic recovery has proven to have progressed at a significantly slower rate than has been anticipated over the last financial quarter (Rio Times).
The Brazilian government has announced that the bidding process for the construction and operation of a high-speed rail line that will link Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas is to begin (Rio Times).
Chile and Brazil form part of 10- country group called ‘advanced emerging markets,’ Barclays Plc said. Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Israel, China, South Africa, Poland and the Czech Republic are also part of the group, Barclays analysts including Eduardo Levy-Yeyati wrote in a report (Bloomberg).
OIL
Angola, holder of the OPEC presidency and host of an OPEC meeting next week, is the least compliant with the group’s agreements to limit oil output, according to Reuters calculations.
Sonangol SA, Angola’s state-run oil producer said a number of companies have shown interest in partnering it to search for oil in Iraq (Bloomberg).
Angola’s oil exports are expected to remain above 1.8 million barrels per day in February, despite a slight drop on the previous month, according to export projections from operators in the country (Macauhub).
BANKING
The Angolan council of ministers approved the memorandum of understanding between the governments of Angola and Portugal to set up a bank in Angola, with a subsidiary in Portugal (Macauhub).
AIR TRAVEL
Angolan airline Taag, which has been on the European Union black list of flying in EU air space since June 2007, has had its safety standards internationally recognised, Portuguese newspaper Sol reported (Macauhub).
ECONOMY
At present, Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world and has the fifth-largest population as well. But in 17 years’ time, it will also be the fifth-largest economy in the world, says its finance minister, Guido Mantega. Read the full article at the BBC.
Brazil’s government said it will lend an additional $80 billion reais ($45.3 billion) to the national development bank over the next two years to boost investment and keep the economy’s strong recovery on track (Reuters).
Brazil’s economy created a record number of jobs in November, in the latest sign the country’s labor market has fully recovered from this year’s recession, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said (Reuters).
BUSINESS
Brazil’s JBS SA, the world’s largest beef processor, said it plans to raise the equivalent of $2 billion in a bond offering, part of a plan to fund its U.S. unit after the takeover of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp (Reuters).
China’s Lenovo, the world’s fourth-largest seller of personal computers, is “open” to buy rivals in Brazil, where it wants to triple market share by 2014, if it strikes the right acquisition price, the company’s top two officials said (Reuters).
Brazil’s Embraer, the world’s third largest aircraft maker, has signed an agreement with CDB Leasing Co worth $2.2 billion over three years to help finance the sale of regional jets in Asia (Reuters).
Brazil’s Embraer, the world’s third-largest aircraft maker, will likely sell a record $500 million worth of planes in Brazil this year, helping offset a tumble in global demand amid the worst civil aviation market in years (Reuters).
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer will be invited to join a tender to supply narrow-bodied planes to United Airlines, the head of United’s parent company UAL Corp said (Reuters).
France’s Renault SA plans to invest about 1 billion reais ($571 million) in Brazil over the next three years, the company’s chief for the Mercosur trade bloc said (Reuters).
MINING
Iron ore prices will likely rise in 2010, underpinned by growing demand from China, the chief executive of Brazilian mining giant Vale said, without offering estimates of how much prices could rise (Reuters).
AMAZON
The $7.7 billion Santo Antonio dam on the Madeira river is part of Brazil’s largest concerted development plan for the Amazon since the country’s military government cut highways through the rain forest to settle the vast region during its two-decade reign starting in 1964. Read the full report at Reuters.
Brazil took a step forward in protecting the Amazon rainforest, starting satellite surveillance of the cattle ranches that are among the chief culprits in the forest’s destruction (Reuters).
AGRICULTURE
Brazilian authorities have approved the use of a new genetically-modified soy seed which was developed jointly by BASF and state agricultural researchers in the world’s No. 2 soy exporter (Reuters).
Sugar output in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, will rise to a record after declining supplies from India boosted demand for sweetener from the South American country, the government said (Bloomberg).
FINANCE
BTG Pactual, the securities firm led by Andre Esteves, is set to launch a private equity-backed Brazilian infrastructure fund, to take advantage of massive road, port and dam projects (Reuters).
OIL
Brazil’s lower house of Congress has approved the second of four bills designed to overhaul the country’s oil legislation and give the government greater control over vast new offshore reserves (Reuters).
Brazil’s Petrobras expects to raise more than $10 billion in a sale of shares it is planning as part of an ambitious expansion effort, the company’s Chief Executive Jose Sergio Gabrielli said (Reuters).
Brazil’s oil giant Petrobras said tests confirmed that Iara oil field, off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, contains a potential of 3 billion to 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Reuters).
TELECOM
Spain’s Telefonica plans to spend more than 2 billion reais ($1.14 billion) in Brazil next year, compared with expected capital expenditures of 2.4 billion reais earmarked for 2009, the chief executive of its Brazilian unit Antonio Carlos Valente said (Reuters).
POLITICS
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos signalled the oil-producing nation’s first post-war presidential elections, scheduled for 2009, would have to wait at least another three years (Reuters).
Angola plans to halve the number of nationals living on a dollar or less a day by 2015, Radio Nacional de Angola reported, citing Diogenes de Oliveira, head of parliament’s finance committee. Around 60 percent of the oil-rich nation’s 18 million people live below the poverty line, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said last week, accusing “irresponsible” officials of squandering state resources (Bloomberg).
OIL
Angola’s national oil company Sonangol won deals to develop two oilfields in one of Iraq’s most dangerous provinces (Reuters).
Marathon Oil Corp. the fourth- largest U.S. energy producer, agreed to sell a 20 percent working interest in Block 32 off the coast of Angola to that country’s state-owned oil company for $1.3 billion (Bloomberg).
The China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec), one of Asia’s largest oil refiners, may be granted an oil field in Angola by its parent company China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group), the China Business News newspaper reported (Macauhub).
BANKING
Portugal’s second-largest listed bank Banco Espirito Santo said it agreed to sell a 24 percent stake in its Angolan unit for around 254 million euros ($375 million) (Reuters).
Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender by assets, said its Angolan unit will start operations next year with capital of $50 million (Bloomberg).
South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has decided to expand into the Angolan market, and is waiting for approval from the Luanda authorities to open a representative office (Macauhub).
MINING
The state-run diamond company, Endiama EP, aims to produce gems without foreign support. “We need to produce our diamonds ourselves,” chairman Sumbula said. The company’s partners include De Beers, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s diamonds. Endiama also aims to “make profits for the state” and is now engaged “classifying” its staff to see “what each can offer the company,” the Luanda-based company said (Bloomberg).
AIRPORTS AND TRAVEL
The runway at Luena airport in Angolan province of Moxico, was re-opened after work that began in May 2007 was concluded by Chinese construction company Sinohydro Corporation to extend the runway from 2,400 metres to 3,350 metres and a width of 60 metres (Macauhub).
The new Lubango international airport, in the capital of Angola’s Huila province, is due to be handed over within the next few days, the head of the company responsible for inspecting the project told Angolan news agency Angop (Macauhub).
ECONOMY
Angola may be forced to delay a planned $4 billion international bond sale until “early 2010” and seek a credit rating due to concern caused by Dubai’s request to reschedule debt payments, according to Eurasia Group (Bloomberg).
Angola has access to $400 million from the International Monetary Fund in addition to the $1.4 billion Standby Agreement approved by the lender on Nov. 23, the World Bank said (Bloomberg).
Luanda is the world’s most expensive expat city. For a full table of cities check Bloomberg.
The African Development Bank (BfDA) announced in Luanda it has set aside Usd 2.0 billion to finance projects in the private sector in the 2010/2014 period (ANGOP).
POLITICS
An Angolan minister said a separatist group that has waged war for control of the country’s oil-producing province of Cabinda for more than 30 years no longer existed (Reuters).
OIL
Angola’s national oil company, Sonangol, will hold 20 percent in Iran’s South Pars-12 project that will be developed at a cost of $7.5 billion (Reuters).
Romania will make “considerable” investments in the exploration and processing of minerals in Angola, including oil and diamonds. The two countries will sign an agreement early next year that will allow Romania to build and oil research and development center in Angola, the Luanda-based news agency said. Romania is also interested in investing in Angola’s oil, diamond, uranium, copper and energy industries (Bloomberg).
Angola has oil reserves that will make it possible to maintain daily production of 1.9 million barrels for the next 15 years, the country’s Oil Minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos said (Macauhub).
BANKING
The African Investment Bank (SA-BAI) was recently elected, by “The Banker” magazine of the Financial Times Group, as the best bank of the year in Angola due to the growth it recorded during the year 2009 (ANGOP).
South Africa’s Standard Bank, the biggest bank in South Africa, has been granted a banking license to operate in Angola, where it is due to start operating in mid 2010, the bank said in Johannesburg (Macauhub).
BUSINESS
Angola’s central Huambo province might become the national distribution centre for Panalpina, one of the world’s leading providers of forwarding and logistics services, specialising in intercontinental air freight and ocean freight (ANGOP).
ATLANTICO
An Angolan business delegation is in South Africa to get in touch with local entrepreneurs in light of the recommendations emanated from the recent visit to Angola by the South African President, Jacob Zuma (ANGOP).
Brazilian wholesale group Tenda Atacado at the end of November opened its first warehouse-store in the Angolan capital of Luanda, called Alimenta Angola (Feed Angola), the Brazilian press reported (Macauhub).
AIRPORTS & TRAVEL
São Pedro Airport on the island of São Vicente received a test flight of TACV Cabo Verde Airlines’ Boeing 757-200 at 2:20 pm December 4. This is one of the final tests in the audit being carried out by the Civil Aeronautics Agency (AAC) prior to allowing the airport to open for international flights (A Semana).
The financial directorships of TACV Cabo Verde Airlines and Airport and Air Security company ASA reached an accord on the night of Monday, November 30, to overcome the impasse regarding the payment of the flagship airline’s debt to the airport management company, estimated at more than 1.3 billion escudos. TACV has promised to pay more than 10 million escudos per month to ASA (A Semana).
PORTS
The process of privatisation of Cape Verde’s port services is due to be concluded in June, 2010, the manager of the Programme for Regulation and Privatisations in Cape Verde said in Praia. The ports of Praia and Mindelo are due to be handed over to two concession-holders, whilst the port of Palmeira will have just one concession (Macauhub).
HEALTH
Cape Verde’s Minister of Health, Basílio Mosso Ramos, announced that Cape Verde had registered 272 new cases of AIDS in 2008, indicating a stabilization in the number of new infections in the archipelago. Cape Verde’s seroprevalance is 0.8% (A Semana).
POLITICS
The president of opposition party MpD, Carlos Veiga, will be a special guest at the congress of the European People’s Party (PPE) in Bonn, Germany between December 8 and 10. The party is a member of the Centrist Democrat International, of which the MpD is also a part. The meeting’s host will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel (A Semana).
FINANCE
Eight microfinance institutions undergo training in the realm of data base normalization. The course, which is being supported by the Millennium Challenge Account – Cape Verde, is aimed at raising the entities’ capacities in order for them to be able to normalize their data bases, thus making it easier for them to migrate to a new system in the future. The course will be administered by a consultant from Planet Finance – Brazil, Ricardo Linder, and will take place at the National Administration and Management Institute (INAG) (A Semana).
SECURITY
After several months of relative calm, thieves have once again begun attacking tourists on the beaches of Boa Vista. Local police have registered robberies victimizing tourists on the beaches of Estoril, Chaves and Cabo de Santa Maria (A Semana).
POLITICS
President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brazil this week vindicates Iran’s strategy of cosying up with Latin America. Read the full story in The Economist
Brazil’s share of those in poverty fell by half from 17% to 8%, an annual reduction of 3.2%. Read how it compares with China and India in The Economist.
ECONOMY
Brazil’s economy will grow 6.1 percent in 2010, bolstered by rising domestic demand, increasing exports and higher investment, according to Banco BradescoSA, the country’s second-largest bank by market value (Bloomberg).
INVESTMENT
Brazil’s Gerdau, the world’s second-largest maker of long steel, will focus growth in Brazil where investment in infrastructure is surging, the company’s chief executive told newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo (Reuters).
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, plans to invest up to 6.2 billion reais ($3.5 billion) in Brazil from 2010 through 2014 as it aims to become the country’s biggest carmaker, the company’s Brazilian head said (Reuters).
Iron ore miner Vale said it planned to invest in another steel mill — this time in Para, the northern Brazilian state where its main Carajas iron ore mine is (Reuters).
Votorantim Participacoes SA, a closely held Brazilian producer of materials from aluminum to cement, plans to invest 4.5 billion reais ($2.6 billion) next year, a local newspaper reported, citing the company’s General Director (Bloomberg).
BANKING
State-owned Brazilian bank Caixa Economica Federal plans to announce the purchase of a stake in at least one more bank besides Banco Panamericano by year-end, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported (Reuters).
Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s largest bank by assets, may seek acquisitions in the United States, looking to benefit from “devalued” prices among regional lenders, Chief Executive Aldemir Bendine said (Reuters).
Banco do Brasil is likely to pay the city of Sao Paulo 726 million reais ($413 million) to handle its payroll, the largest of any municipality in the country, Valor Economico newspaper reported (Reuters).
Brazil’s largest banks are too expensive after an “absurd” rally this year spurred by prospects they will accelerate lending to meet rising consumer demand, according to Mercatto Gestao de Recursos (Bloomberg).
ENERGY
Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega confirmed that the government will extend tax breaks to certain vehicles deemed environmentally friendly (Reuters).
Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, aka as Eletrobras, Latin America’s largest power utility, aims to invest in U.S. electricity transmission in coming years, an executive said (Bloomberg).
ECONOMY
Angola is considering setting up a Norwegian-style sovereign wealth fund to manage its oil revenues, Norwegian daily Aftenposten reported (Reuters).
Angola’s foreign exchange reserves unexpectedly fell for the first time in three months to $12.1 billion in October from $12.8 billion the previous month, despite a sharp recovery in oil prices, the central bank said (Reuters).
The International Monetary Fund said its board approved a $1.4 billion standby loan arrangement for Angola to help it cope with the effects of the global recession (Reuters).
The non-oil sector of the Angolan economy may grow 10,5 per cent as forecast in the national plan 2010/2011 (ANGOP).
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Officials from Angola’s Central Bank and Finance Ministry have illegally transferred money abroad, prosecutors said, promising to recover the missing funds (Reuters).
ATLANTICO
A forum for the promotion of investments is scheduled for November 30 to December 1 in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, aimed to develop partnership between small and medium companies from Angola and Brazil manufacturing industry and agriculture (ANGOP).
Angolan bank Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAI) is due to open a representative office in South Africa before the end of the year in order to do business in the continent’s largest economy, the bank’s chief executive said in Luanda (Macauhub).
Angolan state oil company Sonangol is set to acquire a controlling stake of a Brazilian oil company, at a cost of US$180 million, Brazilian financial newspaper Valor Económico reported (Macauhub).
BUSINESS
The state owned insurance company (ENSA) inaugurated a temporary branch in the northern Malanje Province, in the ambit of the programme to expand its activity in the country (ANGOP).
A total of Usd 4 million will be invested next year by the business group “Admar Damião”, for the construction of a vegetable and fruit processing and transforming plant in Chibia district, whihc is situated some 45 kilometres to the south of Lubango in Huila province (ANGOP).
Portuguese electricity company EDP – Energias de Portugal is looking into solutions to build a combined-cycle electric power plant in Angola, the group’s chief executive, António Mexia said in Figueira da Foz (Macauhub).
The process of selling 24 percent of the capital of Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) to Angolan investors will be concluded soon, the chairman of Portuguese banking group Banco Espírito Santo (BES), Ricardo Salgado said in Lisbon (Macauhub).
AGRICULTURE
The World Bank (WB) will grant to Angola a credit of USD 30 million aimed at supporting the farmers in the provinces of Bié, Huambo and Malanje (ANGOP).
ECONOMY
The government has proposed the elaboration of partnerships with the private sector to create management corporations for water and electricity utility Electra on an island-by-island basis (A Semana).
The Bank of Cape Verde (BCV) is expecting a “slight recovery” of the economy in 2010, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth of between 4 and 5 percent, after “continues slowdown” due to an “unfavourable international climate” (Macauhub).
The government of Cape Verde wants to turn the Archipelago into a “cybernetic island” and to do this will be supported by India, specifically in creating a technological hub, Cape Verde’s Foreign Affairs Minister said in Praia (Macauhub).
BANKING
Banco Interatlântico has opened its first branch on the island of Santiago outside of the city of Praia. The new branch, in the city of Assomada, is its eighth in the country. The central region of the island of Santiago has grown economically over the past several years, and is now third in the growth ranking in Cape Verde, following the city of Praia and the island of São Vicente (A Semana).
TRAVEL
Cape Verde is currently under the influence of a zone-specific anti-cyclone flow that is favoring the transportation of dust from the coast of Mauritania to the archipelago. The phenomenon, known in Cape Verde as “dry haze,” has led TACV Cabo Verde Airlines to cancel flights from the island of Sal to other islands (A Semana).
Cape Verde’s airline has become a fully-fledged member of the International air Transport Association (IATA), the company’s commercial director said (Macauhub).
ECONOMY
The 13th edition of the Cape Verde International Trade Fair (FIC) began on November 18, on the island of São Vicente, with the participation of businesses from Cape Verde, Portugal and Brazil, at a time when the government has expressed its intention to turn the archipelago into a business center for the Middle Atlantic. The nearly one hundred companies occupy a total of 92 stands distributed through two pavilions (A Semana).
BANKING
Macau-based company, Geocapital has become the biggest private shareholder in Cape Verdean bank, Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde (CECV), by acquiring 27.1 percent of its capital, the bank said in Praia (Macauhub).
INVESTMENT
The Spanish hotelier group Sol Meliá has reached an agreement with The Resort Group PLC to manage two new 5-Star Hotel Resorts on the Island of Sal, Cape Verde, under the MELIÁ brand (Hotelnews).
