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

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (8565)	9/28/1998 1:32:00 AM
From: Rohit Nanavati	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22640

Steve, Welcome back from Weekend. New York times reports (Monday sept 28th edition) that a package worth $30 billion is being put together. Yet it may drag brazil in to recession the article says. RN

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (8565)	9/28/1998 1:16:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazilians to cast vote for economic survival Reuters, Sunday, September 27, 1998 at 16:53 By Phil Stewart SAO PAULO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has a commanding lead in voter support ahead of next week's election despite complaints about unemployment, illiteracy and poverty, according to a poll published on Sunday. If Brazil's presidential elections were held today, Cardoso would win 46 percent of the votes, a lead of 21 percentage points over his nearest rival and eight points more than all of his opponents combined, Datafolha polling agency said. Brazilians argue that the 62-year-old incumbent, like him or not, has proven he can restore investor confidence and is the most able candidate to guide Brazil through a minefield of global economic turmoil. "Of course we're going to re-elect our president. We need him," said 52-year-old Geni Pirres, who works for about $25 a week as a maid in Sao Paulo. "Things may be not all that great now, but you should have seen how it was," she added. Four years ago, Cardoso launched an inflation-busting crusade that slashed price increases to less than one percent this year from almost 3,000 percent before he took office. The success of the "Real Plan" won Cardoso an image as an economic problem solver, a reputation that has come in handy as Russia's financial crisis spread to Brazil. "Four years ago Cardoso brought down inflation. This time he will survive this global crisis. Of course I'm going to vote for him," said Aparecido dos Santos, who makes sandwiches at a local delicatessen. Santos, like most Brazilians, seems to have swallowed Cardoso's bitter interest rate hike. The measure was designed to plug a wave of capital flight but will likely cause mass job layoffs and a recession next year. The president's continuing popularity in spite of economic hardships has irritated his main rival, left-winger Luiz Inancio Lula da Silva, whose social reform agenda meets robust cheers but few backers. In the dwindling days of his campaign, Lula said he will drive home the message that Brazil's economic troubles are the fault of the Cardoso administration. "You have people who have been unemployed for two years and the press is blaming the global crisis. No one connects it to Cardoso's economic policy," the 52-year-old former lathe operator told Reuters in an interview. "That's our job. We have the tools and we'll get it done." Brazil's social indicators are grim. Despite being Latin America's largest economy with annual GDP of $800 million, roughly seven out of every 10 voters this election won't have the equivalent of a first-grade education, according to government figures. Roughly 24 percent of the country's adult population live on a monthly salary of 131 reais ($111) and unemployment has soared to its highest levels in 15 years. Brazil's gross inequalities also have allowed half of the nation's land to remain in the hands of two percent of the population, causing violent clashes that have left more 1,000 people dead since 1985, according to the Catholic-run Pastoral Land Commission. But with a stable currency and the Cardoso economy drawing the world's second-highest level of direct foreign investment, Brazil's pragmatic voters say they have to pick their battles. "One thing at a time," said newspaper stand owner Raimundo Nonato Moreira. "Brazil will get to that. But Cardoso is who we need now." Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (8565)	9/28/1998 1:22:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil Bovespa (INDEX:$BVSP.X) jumps on hopes of rates cut Reuters, Monday, September 28, 1998 at 09:35 SAO PAULO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Brazilian shares rose in early trade on Monday on optimism U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will cut U.S. interest rates at its Tuesday meeting, traders said. "The market's optimistic we'll see a rates cut tomorrow," a trader at a local brokerage said. Sao Paulo's key Bovespa index of the most-traded shares jumped 3.02 percent to 6,914 points. Traders said expectations of gains on Wall Street boosted shares. The Federal Reserve meets tomorrow and is seen cutting interest rates in the United States, which could make emerging markets more attractive, traders said. The most heavily traded shares led the market's rise. Telebras receipts (SAO:RCTB40) surged 3.51 percent to 88.50 reais while Petrobras preferred jumped 4.88 percent to 129 reais. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (8565)	9/28/1998 1:24:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil Opposition Demands Dismissal Of Election Official Dow Jones Newswires RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)--Brazil's opposition party demanded the dismissal of a top electoral regulator Sunday, days before national elections, after he apparently voiced support for President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The party said Ilmar Galvao, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal - which regulates Brazil's electoral process - should not oversee Oct.4th's elections after a newspaper quoted him saying Cardoso's re-election was "essential". Galvao said Cardoso's re-election was "essential to maintain and consolidate the economic pattern established in Brazil", according to the daily Folha De Sao Paulo. Left wing presidential candidate Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva's party issued a statement, calling for Galvao's dismissal, unless he rectracted the comments. Otherwise, it said, the elections would be "illegitimate". Galvao moved to try and quell the controversy Sunday, telling radio station CBN his comments were "trumped up" by the daily and were made as a citizen not an electoral official. On Oct.4th, Brazilians vote for a president, 27 governors, 513 federal deputies, one-third of the 81 Senate and 1,045 state legislators. Centre-left president Cardoso is seen as a capable handler of Brazil's economy, under threat because of the world financial crisis. Main rival Silva, who has no proven track record, is likely to adjust his free market policies if elected. Cardoso has a clear 21 point lead, according to opinion polls out Sunday. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is part of Brazil's Justice System and regulates all aspects of elections, including probing irregularities and regulating voting.

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (8565)	9/28/1998 1:26:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil Revises '97 Real GDP Growth To 3.7% From 3.0%-IBGE Dow Jones Newswires SAO PAULO -- Brazil has revised its 1997 gross domestic product growth figure to 3.7%, from the previously-announced 3.0%, the government-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said Monday. In a written statement, the IBGE estimated total GDP in 1997 at 866.8 billion reals (BRL)($1=BRL1.18), with per capita GDP at BRL5,430. The IBGE said that industrial growth of 5.5% was primarily responsible for the overall growth in 1997. Among the best performing industrial subsectors, vehicle manufacturing showed growth of 14.3% and construction registered an 8.5% increase in GDP. Agriculture sector GDP rose 2.7% in 1997, while growth in the service sector stood at 1.2%. The IBGE said that economic growth in 1997 was partially a function of the low basis of comparison in 1996.