Business and investments

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America. It is the 12th largest economy in the world and represents about half of South America in population, territory and economy. Brazil

Just for comparison purposes, the GDP of the State of Sao Paulo is almost three times larger than Chile¿s GDP. The country is rich in agricultural, mineral and industrial resources, and represents a substantial market opportunity for U.S. exporters.

The Southeast and the South are the most prosperous and most highly industrialized regions, and the Northeast is engaged in aggressive expansion of its infrastructure base, like new metro systems, roads, airports, ports and power generation.

Brazil has a large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Brazil welcomes foreign investment and has lifted many restrictions in the past several years to encourage foreign investors. The 1962 Foreign Capital law and subsequent amendments govern most foreign investment. Foreign investors have been permitted to invest in the Brazilian stock market since 1991. The Brazilian Congress approved constitutional amendments in 1995 to eliminate the distinction between foreign and national capital. New rules considerably liberalizing foreign investment in equities, which essentially put foreign investors on an equal footing with Brazilian, began to take effect as of March 31, 2000.

Constitutional amendments passed in 1995 opened formerly closed sectors, such as petroleum, telecommunications, mining, power generation, and internal transport to foreign investors. In 2002, Congress approved a constitutional amendment permitting foreign investors to own up to 30% of media companies. There are restrictions on foreign investment in a limited numbers of sectors: nuclear energy, health services, media, rural property, fishing, mail and telegraph, aviation and aerospace.

All foreign investment must be registered with the Central Bank. The certificate of registration permits remittances of profits and repatriation of capital without additional Central Bank authorization. Foreign loans must be registered with the Central Bank. Usually this is done automatically, but some loans may be subject to review by the Central Bank. Central Bank authorities say that they intend to proceed with a general capital account liberalization in the medium term.

DOING BUSINESS AND INVESTING IN BRAZIL