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Strategies & Market Trends : Telebras (TBH) & Brazil -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: djane who wrote (7319)	8/31/1998 3:47:00 PM
From: DMaA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Didn't touch my IRA holding though. Not my money anyway for 20 years.

To: djane who wrote (7319)	8/31/1998 7:27:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Brazil's Cardoso sees no need to raise rates Monday August 31, 7:07 pm Eastern Time BRASILIA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso does not think interest rates need to be raised to bring dollars into Brazil, a presidential spokesman said Monday. ''The government does not see the need for an increase in interest rates,'' the spokesman told reporters at a daily briefing. ''The economic team has already taken the necessary measures to stimulate inflows of foreign capital.'' Rather than increase the cost of money, the government ''would like to see a reduction in interest rates,'' the spokesman said. As Brazilian markets reel amid the fallout from Russia's financial crisis, the Monetary Policy Committee of Brazil's Central Bank is preparing for a monthly meeting Wednesday to set the bank's prime lending rate, the TBC, for September. Some analysts have suggested the bank might raise the TBC from its current 19.75 percent annual to attract foreign capital and bolster the country's foreign currency reserves. But most economists predict the rate will be left as it is or perhaps even reduced slightly, in keeping with a gradual reduction from the doubling of the TBC to 43 percent in October last year at the onset of Asia's financial crisis. Cardoso is seeking to win presidential elections Oct. 4 and an increase in interest rates might hurt his currently strong approval ratings. Debt specialists also point to a shift in the profile of Brazil's domestic debt much of which now pays floating rates. Any increase in Brazil's TBC would have a huge impact on the government's debt servicing costs. Related News Categories: international Help Copyright c 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

To: djane who wrote (7319)	8/31/1998 7:29:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22640

Brazil's 1999 federal budget has primary surplus Monday August 31, 5:48 pm Eastern Time BRASILIA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A draft version of the Brazilian federal government's budget for 1999 sees a surplus, in primary terms, of 8.7 billion reais, or 0.87 percent of gross domestic product, the Planning Ministry said Monday. The primary account does not include debt costs. For 1998, the government has scaled down its expected primary budget surplus in the federal accounts to 0.48 percent of GDP, Planning Minister Paulo Paiva told reporters. Previously, the government had forecast a primary surplus equivalent to about 0.8 percent of GDP. ''The big challenge is to find compatibility between fiscal austerity and the government's priorities,'' Paiva said. In operational terms, which includes debt costs, the federal budget in 1999 would run up a deficit of 1.82 percent of GDP, Paiva said. That compared with an expected operational deficit of 3.23 percent in 1998, the minister said. Brazil's poor fiscal performance -- attributed in part the impact of high interest rates on public debt -- has long worried investors who fear the public sector deficit makes the national currency, the real, vulnerable to speculative attack. Brazil's public sector budget deficit -- which includes state and municipal authorities as well as the federal government -- is estimated to have passed 7 percent of GDP in nominal terms, the widest scale for measuring public accounts. Paiva singled out Brazil's loss-making social security systems as a huge drain on public finances. A system for workers in the private sector, known as the INSS, would post a loss of about 7.04 billion reais in 1999 while the more generous system for the much smaller public sector work force was expected to go 19.16 billion reais into the red. The social security shortfall as a whole next year would be equivalent to 2.62 percent of GDP, more or less unchanged from 2.67 percent in 1998, Paiva said. The Brazilian government has been trying to get a bill to reform social security rules through Congress since 1995. Officials say they will press ahead with the final few votes on the bill after October's elections. The 1999 federal government budget proposal was due to be sent to Congress where it must be debated and voted in both houses. ($ equals 1.18 reais) Copyright c 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.