São Paulo, 12/3/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Minister of Planning, Guido Mantega, is in the United States where he has scheduled meetings with business leaders to present the first of Brazil's Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project portfolios. According to Mantega, the areas that foreign investors will be most interested in are transportation, energy and sanitation. "We know that there is a scarcity of investment opportunities around the world. There is a lot of capital and not many good opportunities," explains the minister, as he points out that what Brazil can offer is a better return on investment than can be obtained in the US.

"Up there the return is 1.5% to 3%. We can offer more, maybe as much as double that," he said, adding that in Brazil long-term profits can be made in a stable environment. That should make investments in infrastructure more attractive than the financial market, he declared. The minister also said that the government could use its power to reduce financial market gains so more money would go to the PPP. "If infrastructure investments yield more, investments will be made there," said the minister.

The PPP in São Paulo

Recently Mantega presented a PPP portfolio at the Industrial Federation of São Paulo (Fiesp). That portfolio contained jobs and services worth R$13 billion. The Fiesp president, Horacio Lafer Piva, said he was pleased with the portfolio and that questions about it being raised by the business community was not sign of resistance or prejudice, but rather a natural response to the enormous range of the program.

Piva praised the incentives the government was giving to the export sector, but called for bolder action in reducing interest rates and taxes. Piva concluded by saying that although the ministry of Finance was swearing there would be no tax increases, his organizatin was convinced there was a risk of more taxes. (AB)