Brazil’s Rousseff woos investors for infrastructure plan
By Luciana Lopez and Alonso Soto
NEW YORK/BRASILIA, Sept 25 | Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:46pm EDT
(Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her economic team courted Wall Street on Wednesday for investment in a massive plan to upgrade roads, airports and other infrastructure that has gotten off to a rocky start.
Investments to improve dilapidated roads, ports,
railways and airports are crucial for Rousseff’s
strategy to recover confidence in Brazil and bolster
an economy that has struggled to grow over the last
three years.
Her government is worried by the initial lack of
interest in concessions being offered to private
companies, which appear reluctant to commit to
the projects due to fears of excessive government
intervention.
Rousseff assured investors at a Goldman Sachs
event that her country has never broken a contract
and never will do so.
“I believe Brazil can offer opportunities that very
few countries in the world can,” she told an audience
of bankers and business people. “Legal risk does not
exist in Brazil.”
Brazil is scrambling to lift anemic investment levels
that have kept its economy stagnant, but concerns
that the government is meddling in contracts has
dented investors’ appetite for logistics tenders that
started last week.
A deserted highway tender, a last-minute
postponement in a high-speed train concession and
disappointing participation in the upcoming auction
for the huge Libra offshore oil prospect have cast
doubt on Brazil’s ability to draw investors.
(Fonte: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/25/brazil-economyinvestors-idUSL2N0HL0YD20130925. Acesso em 3 out. 2013.)
“Woos” (título) e “meddle in” (linha 20) significam, respectivamente,
