Friday, August 17, 2012

Brazil invest $66 billion to improve surface transportation

The president of Brazil announced a nearly $66 billion surface transportation package on Wednesday to fix the country’s road and rail infrastructure, in an effort to resolve trade bottlenecks and give a boost to the slow growing economy.

The package includes laying 6,200 miles of new train track and building or broadening 4,660 miles of national highways. The government also intends to invest in packages for its airports, ports and maritime transportation, other areas sorely in need of improvement.

"Brazil will finally have an infrastructure that's compatible with its size," President Dilma Rousseff said at a ceremony announcing the package, which comes as Brazil is poised to host of the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

After experiencing growth over the the last decade, Brazil's economy decreased last year and the government projects 2.5 percent growth in 2012. Private economists surveyed weekly by the Central Bank now expect growth around 1.8 percent. However, Brazil's unemployment remains at record lows.

Experts assert that transportation logjams must be removed to assure long-term growth. It is currently difficult to transport Brazil's considerable commodities from various far-off in-country locations to the foreign export market. Brazil ranks far behind other big nations when it comes to infrastructure, ranking 104 out of 142 in a recent global competitiveness report from the World Economic Forum.

For more of the Bloomberg Businessweek story: www.businessweek.com

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