Geneva (Switzerland), January 29, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Minister of Development, Luiz Fernando Furlan, said today that the government intends to eliminate federal taxes on capital goods in order to stimulate investments. "We have already reduced taxes by 30% as part of Lula's program to ease things up, and the goal is to have no federal taxation at all on capital goods, to stimulate investments," Furlan told a meeting of around 200 executives from large international corporations.

According to the Minister, the Brazilian government hopes to receive US$ 20 billion in direct foreign investments "in the near future," as a result of the stability of the economy and the steps taken to stimulate trade and resource inflow. (DAS)