|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Tuesday, 3 February 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Business | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Brazil keen on preferential trade agreement with Lanka, says envoy by Shirajiv Sirimane For the first time a business delegation led by the Brazilian Ambassador domiciled in India was in Sri Lanka last week on a fact-finding mission to explore possibilities of investing here. According to the Ambassador for Brazil in India and Sri Lanka Vera Barrouin Machado, they are keen on business opportunities related to Banking, legal profession, service and the infrastructure providing industries. Brazil has been one of the largest suppliers of armed vehicles, security related items and products in the agriculture industry. She said that the Brazilian government is now in to open economy and some of their state owned projects have been privatised. "This is where Sri Lankan investors will have openings," she said. The Embassy is now lobbying to take a trade mission from Sri Lanka to Brazil for this purpose. She said they are keen on starting a preferential trade agreement with Sri Lanka, which would lead to a FTA. The total value of business between the two countries last year was US $ 14 million of which 11.5 per cent were imports to Sri Lanka. The main items were industrial equipment, craft paper, frozen poultry foods, building material and 52 per cent of sugar. The main exports from Sri Lanka were piling material, rubber and polyester related products. The Ambassador said that there is a major untapped tourism potential in the country and it cannot be exploited due to lack of direct flights. She said that they are working on this area while they would have direct flights linking India to Brazil and Sri Lanka would follow. An investment seminar was organised by the Export Development Board and the Minister, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Prof. G. L. Peiris called upon the Brazilian investors to use Sri Lanka as a gateway to Indian subcontinent, exploiting the Indo- Lanka Free Trade Agreement. Manufacturing high quality rubber with Sri Lankan raw material and Indian technology for the US market was another opportunity, the Minister said. Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries and is expanding its presence in world markets. The maintenance of large current account deficits via capital account surpluses became problematic as investors became more risk averse to emerging markets as a consequence of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and the Russian bond default in August 1998. After crafting a fiscal adjustment program and pledging progress on structural reform, Brazil received a $41.5 billion IMF-led international support program in November 1998. In January 1999, the Brazilian Central Bank announced that the real would no longer be pegged to the US dollar. The consequent devaluation helped moderate the downturn in economic growth in 1999, and the country posted a moderate GDP growth in 2000. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001 to 2003 - to less than 2% - because of a slowdown in major markets and the hiking of interest rates by the Central Bank to combat inflationary pressures. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
