Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the head of the state of Iran, is scheduled for a four-nation tour of Latin America, beginning Sunday. His first stop would be Caracas (Venezuela) where he is set to meet his long-time friend and ally President Hugo Chavez. The rest of his itinerary includes Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua. The tour is seen to aim at obtaining outside support and economic ties for Iran which is under intense international pressure to stop its nuclear program.
On his five day tour, the Iranian President may also visit Guatemala looking for new economic partnerships. The President is most likely to be accompanied by his Energy Minister, Majid Namjoo. He has claimed that the tour is for promoting bilateral trade and finding new trading partners in Latin American nations.
Interestingly, Ahmadinejad’s tour does not include Brazil, which is a major economic powerhouse in the region and with whom Iran has strong trading ties. Neither does it include other big Latin American countries like Argentina, Mexico or Columbia where the United States enjoys support.
The United States opines that the upcoming tour is unlikely to generate interest in Latin American countries against the backdrop of sanctions and Iran’s nuclear program.
Showing posts with label Latin America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latin America. Show all posts
Friday, January 6, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Brazil reports signs of economic downturn
After the record growth of 7.5 percent in 2010, Brazil has started to show economic fatigue in late 2011. Consumer spending in the biggest economy of Latin America has declined in the third quarter, followed by a 0.04 percent dip in gross domestic product (GDP). Imports have also recorded a slump. Brazilian economy is expected to be just around 3 percent or even less this year.
To revive its consumer spending and maintain long-term growth, Brazilian government has recently introduced a fiscal stimulus package. Bank interest rates have also been slashed three times in the recent months. This is a major turnaround from measures adopted earlier this year by the Brazilian government to ‘cool’, an ‘overheating economy’. At that time, the government of Brazil had repeatedly hiked bank interest rates and taxes to keep a check on inflation.
Despite the recent downturn, Brazil boosts of an impressive foreign currency reserve of $352 billion. As on October 2011, unemployment rate is at a record low of 5.8 percent compared to average unemployment rate of 9.95 percent between 2001 and 2010. Brazilians feel that unlike other countries that have structural defects, Brazil is going through a transitional phase. All it needs is sufficient infrastructural development and skilled manpower to stay on the growth path.
To revive its consumer spending and maintain long-term growth, Brazilian government has recently introduced a fiscal stimulus package. Bank interest rates have also been slashed three times in the recent months. This is a major turnaround from measures adopted earlier this year by the Brazilian government to ‘cool’, an ‘overheating economy’. At that time, the government of Brazil had repeatedly hiked bank interest rates and taxes to keep a check on inflation.
Despite the recent downturn, Brazil boosts of an impressive foreign currency reserve of $352 billion. As on October 2011, unemployment rate is at a record low of 5.8 percent compared to average unemployment rate of 9.95 percent between 2001 and 2010. Brazilians feel that unlike other countries that have structural defects, Brazil is going through a transitional phase. All it needs is sufficient infrastructural development and skilled manpower to stay on the growth path.
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