Brazilian President vows to get country back on track

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Rio de Janeiro - Brazilian President Michel Temer has vowed to get his country back on a track of growth to leave behind its profound economic recession.

He said predictions showed Latin America's largest economy was likely to begin growing again in early 2017.

In a speech on Sunday at the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa, India, the Brazilian President highlighted the fiscal reform programme being carried out by his government, according to a statement released by his office in Rio.

"We have already begun to reap the rewards. Brazil begins to get back on track. The forecasts for the Brazilian economy in 2017 have already improved. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Brazil will leave the recession and start to see GDP growth by next year," he told a meeting of BRICS leaders (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

"Inflation has been giving in. In September this year, we saw the lowest rate for the month since 1998. It is possible to see a positive reversal of expectations, with an undeniable rise in the confidence levels of economy agents," said Temer.

In a call for investment from BRICS companies, Temer outlined how his government had worked to restore growth and create jobs, improve regulatory frameworks and enhance legal certainty for new investments.

"The BRICS partnership may foster interaction between our businesspeople, leading to more integration between our economies," he said.

Later, at a BRICS Business Summit, Temer hailed Brazil's economic recuperation and invited the executives present to invest in the country.

"We are committed to improving the business environment. We are reducing bureaucracy in the process, lowering operations costs and attentive to predictability and judicial security.

“We have already launched a partnership programme, based on stable rules. There are 34 initial projects in the areas of ports, airports, highways, railways, energy and oil and gas. The regulatory agencies will return to play an effective supervision role," Temer told those in attendance.

After participating in the BRICS Summit, Temer will visit Japan on October 17-18, the first visit by a Brazilian President to Japan in 11 years. He will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before meeting with business leaders. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua