Brazil’s Ministry of Transportation will immediately employ on road restoration US$ 581 million (1.5 billion reais) of the total of US$ 1.6 billion (4.2 billion reais) that the government must release until August.
The Minister of Transportation, Alfredo Pereira do Nascimento, affirmed “This means the return of investments on roads in Brazil and the generation of many jobs.”
According to the Minister, of the total planned for road constructions, US$ 378 million (978 million reais) will go to the Pilot Project, which is the result of an agreement presented by the Brazilian government to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The government and the IMF negotiated the withdrawal of investments in strategic sectors used in the primary surplus calculation.
400 entrepreneurs meeting in Curitiba, southern Brazil, at the IV Brazilian Seminar on Transportation, Logistics, and Exportation earlier this month, reached a consensus that the country needs to improve its infrastructure, considered an impediment to Brazilian exports.
According to the president of the Cexpar (Foreign Trade Center Institute of the State of Paraná), Zufiro Bosio, “it is a mistake to think that the productive sector has problems exporting in consequence of customs barriers. Logistical shortcomings add 30% to the price tag of products manufactured in Brazil, making it difficult to compete abroad.”
The exporters contend that they lose clients because buyers are afraid that the precarious conditions of highways and ports will delay deliveries.
ABr