Tomorrow the Belgian Economical Mission under leadership of prince Filip starts.     You can follow the mission here on De Tijd.
An impressive delegation of 227 business people and 22 journalists are joining; you can download the complete list here.

Belgium is a country which is absolutely under-represented in Brazil compared to European average figures and especially compared to the French doing business with and in Brazil.  And this in times where our export-driven Flemish economy is in such desperate needs.
Mieke Pynnaert, Flemisch Economic Representative São Paulo at Flanders Investment & Trade is doing a great job with her team in changing this.   But again here,  the Begian politicians fail.

Belgian minister of ICT, Telco, Economy and Reform Vincent Van Quickenborne would by the Belgian federal minister joining the mission, together with Minister of foreign affairs Steven Vanackere.  Both consider their own personal political interests to be more important than the interests of the economy of Belgian and decided 2 days before the mission starting to cancel their presence and focus on their personal campaign for the elections of June  13; read the press on it here.

Concusion: @VincentVQ: fail.

Tags: Vincent Van Quickenborne, VincentVQ

On Bloomberg today:
“Pacific Investment Management Co. said the debt crisis in Europe shows its outlook for an extended period of below-average economic growth remains valid, even after global markets rebounded from the financial crisis”
…
“What is happening in Europe is a vivid illustration of an underlying theme of the new normal,” Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive officer of Pimco, said in an interview. There are “structural forces overwhelming traditional cyclical ones,” he saidPimco, which coined the phrase “new normal” a year ago to describe a world characterized by high unemployment rates, more regulation, and a shrinking importance of the U.S. in the global economy, reiterated the view at its annual investment meeting last week in Newport Beach, California, the firm said today on its website. t is even clearer today than it was a year ago that the global economy has embarked upon a multiyear journey that is subject to many tensions,” El-Erian wrote in a commentary on the website
…
“Growth and wealth will shift to emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India, driven by rising employment and income, according to Pimco. Europe will struggle as it tries to ward off deflation, and questions are “multiplying” about the euro and the makeup of the euro zone, El-Erian said.

Tags: the new normal

With all the turbulences in the European markets, one would almost forget this positive news:
The European Commission decided this week to relaunch talks on creating a Freetrade zone between Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and Europe.

Previous negotiations were stopped in 2004.  Also services would enter the negotiations.

German Handelsblatt covers the start of the negotiations:

“Der Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Mercosur gehören Brasilien, Argentinien, Uruguay und Paraguay an. Ihr gemeinsames Bruttoinlandsprodukt beträgt rund 1 300 Mrd Euro. Der Wert europäischer Investitionen in die Mercosur-Staaten lag zuletzt bei rund 155 Mrd. Euro. Laut Kommission sind sie damit höher als die europäischen Investitionen in China, Indien und Russland zusammen. In Jahren vor der Krise sind die europäischen ausfuhren Richtung Mercosur jährlich um rund 15 Prozent gestiegen.”

European investments in Mercosur total 155 Mrd Euro, which is more than European investments in China, India and Russia together.

Read also the excellent article in Brasil Economico on the topic today.

Tags: freetrade mercosur europe

We wrote previously on America Movel (AMX), the mother company of Claro, one of Brazilian’s fast growing mobile operators.

IDB just published this 234 page report on “Multi Latinas”, agressive Latin American companies that are a byproduct of the market liberalization that swept Latin American economies in the 1990s.    Their broadening reach through the United States and the rest of the world which has been simmering below the surface for years is beginning to turn heads.

An excellent in-depth report, highlighting the following Brazilian companies:
Natura
Vale
Petrobras
Politec IT
Embraer

One could easily add to the list:

TAM
Odebrecht / Braskem
Aracruz / Fibria
Suzano
Amanco

Read the full report here.

South Africa surprised last week with it’s interest rate cut, bringing it’s prime rate down to 10%.
Inflation is at 5,7%, which is just a tad under the maximal treshold of the SA Reserve Bank; stressing the boldness of the move, especially if one knows to which extent Eskom electricity rates will go up in April (and continue to raise it’s prices beyond April).  But the newly appointed South African Bank Governor Gill Marcus had to put a populistic stamp to please president Zuma, who is increasingly turning to the left.

In Brazil meanwhile Reserve Bank President Henrique Meirelles announced he will stay in post, despite the October elections ahead; only this announcement made the real increase further in value.  Meirelles also announced that the focus of the reserve Bank will remain on inflation control; somewhat in contrast to South Africa.  Inflation is at 5,17% and the SELIC intrest rate is currently at 8,75%.

Against the dollar the Real looks to end 2010 at a stable rate compared to end 2009; against the Euro though…

Tags: brazilian real 2011