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FM
Former Member
25 Nov, 2011, 08.00PM IST, AFP
Brazil: New land of opportunity for Europeans

RIO DE JANEIRO: Leaving behind anemic job markets at home, Europeans increasingly are packing up and moving to booming Brazil, Latin America's economic powerhouse billed as the new land of opportunity.

Take Afeida Ghaleb, a 33-year-old Frenchwoman. After working for 10 years for an agribusiness firm in suburban Paris, she decided to try her luck in Brazil last July and said she is glad to have made the switch. "I escaped the crisis in Europe. Being bicultural (French and Arab), I wanted to try my luck abroad," Ghaleb, who is of Algerian descent, told AFP.

Brazil "is more open. You are not pigeonholed, There is more opportunity to move from one sector to another," she added. "France unfortunately does not value diversity." Unlike many other European immigrants, Ghaleb was able to get a two-year, renewable visa when she landed a job as a local employee of French tire maker Michelin.

Alejandro, a 33-year-old Spaniard who would not give his last name, was not so lucky. He arrived on a tourist visa last October and could only find odd jobs such as DJ or tourist guide in Rio favelas.

"With the crisis and unemployment in Spain, I needed to head for greener pastures, to a city with the beach and the sun," he said. "You have to go where the opportunities are. But my visa expires in 45 days." He can only renew his visa for another three months, and is ready to become an illegal immigrant if he can't.

Ranked as the world's seventh largest economy and on its way to become the fifth, Brazil posted a 7.5 percent GDP growth in 2010 and expects 3.5 percent this year, higher than the world average. Its jobless rate dropped to six percent this year, the lowest since 2002.

Brazil is also to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, two events that have opened up huge job and investment opportunities for Europeans in the infrastructure and service sectors.

According to the justice ministry, the number of foreigners living legally in Brazil rose more than 50 percent from January to June this year, from 962,000 to 1.5 million and keeps growing.

Portuguese lead the pack, with their number up from 277,000 in December 2009 to 329,000 in June 2011. The number of Spaniards rose during the same period from 58,500 to nearly 81,000, while the French contingent went up from 16,500 to 17,800.

Brazilian authorities estimate there are also more than 600,000 illegal immigrants. Among them 40 percent are Bolivians and 13 percent Chinese. "Brazil is seen as a land of opportunity in Europe," said Nuria Pont, the head of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Sao Paulo.

"Last year, we were contacted by more than 2,000 firms seeking information on how to invest and their number is growing," she added. "The rise is due not only to the crisis, but also to huge consumer demand in Brazil."

"There are 40 million new consumers who emerged from poverty, and the Brazilian market cannot meet their demand," she explained. "There also is a shortage of skilled professionals (such as engineers) which Brazil will take another five to six years to train," Pont said. "When there are no qualified professionals in Brazil, the authorities grant visas (to foreign ones)," she added.

Brazil's roaring economy, which generated 2.5 million jobs last year, coupled with the economic crisis in rich countries, also has led many Brazilians who emigrated to the United States, Japan and Europe in the 1990s to come back home.

Over the past six years, the number of Brazilians living abroad has dropped by half, from four to two million, according to official figures.

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Landers: Brazil full of opportunities
Brazil is throwing up opportunities in the run up to hosting the football world cup and Olympics, according to BlackRock’s Will Landers.

The manager of the Β£238.7m BlackRock Latin American investment trust said he had been β€œencouraged” by the measures taken to curb inflation in Brazil, although the economy does appear to be reaching full levels of employment.

Speaking to Winterfloods Securities, Mr Landers said one of the key areas of growth in Brazil was likely to be investment in infrastructure, given the forthcoming Brazilian Football World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.

The trust has for some time been heavily overweight Brazil as Mr Landers believes the country has the strongest top-down story along with the lowest valuations.

Brazil accounts for 69 per cent of the portfolio.

Within Brazil the trust is underweight Petrobras, the largest Brazilian stock by market cap, and is also overweight Ambev, the brewer, and banks Itau Unibanco and Bradesco.

Elsewhere, the manager is maintaining his underweight in Mexican stocks - a stance Mr Landers said was due to valuations.

He added that because the Mexican economy is more closely correlated to the performance of the US economy than other Latin American peers, he expected any US economic slowdown to act as a major headwind.

However, the manager said Mexico was becoming more competitive with China in terms of labour costs, which could act as a catalyst for future growth.

The key driver of growth in Latin America remained the growing middle class in the region and its impact on areas such as credit and housing, according to Mr Landers.

As a result the fund is overweight domestically-orientated stocks, such as financials and consumers, and underweight commodities.

The trust is currently trading at a share price of 554.5p - a 3.7 per cent discount to its net asset value.
FM
Lucas Brazil is doing well because their economy and that of China are integrated into those of "evil white imperialists".

Brazil sells raw goods to China who converst into into manufactures for teh USA and Europe. They then invest their surpluses in US assets because they acnt absorb it into China's economy and the US represents the best alternative.

Sorry to bust that bubble but these are the facts.

Plus a lot of invetsment flows into Brazil are being intermediated by WALL STREET.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by redux:
quote:
Originally posted by Alijuna:
600,000 illegal immigrants?, wow thatΒ΄s a lot!, IΒ΄m just waiting for Venezuela to become a full Mercosur member so I can go there and stay without any problem Big Grin

I thought U were Venezuelan


Yes I am (sadly)and thatΒ΄s why I want it to be a Mercosur member so I can go to Brazil not to Venezuela as I am already here Roll Eyes
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Alijuna:
quote:
Originally posted by redux:
quote:
Originally posted by Alijuna:
600,000 illegal immigrants?, wow thatΒ΄s a lot!, IΒ΄m just waiting for Venezuela to become a full Mercosur member so I can go there and stay without any problem Big Grin

I thought U were Venezuelan


Yes I am (sadly)and thatΒ΄s why I want it to be a Mercosur member so I can go to Brazil not to Venezuela as I am already here Roll Eyes


Lots of Guyanese in San Felix/ Puerto Ordaz area. Used to be thousands of Guyanese in Petare in Caracas but most left when it was easy for Venezuelans to get a US visa.
Sunil
quote:
Originally posted by Sunil:
quote:
Originally posted by Alijuna:
quote:
Originally posted by redux:
quote:
Originally posted by Alijuna:
600,000 illegal immigrants?, wow thatΒ΄s a lot!, IΒ΄m just waiting for Venezuela to become a full Mercosur member so I can go there and stay without any problem Big Grin

I thought U were Venezuelan


Yes I am (sadly)and thatΒ΄s why I want it to be a Mercosur member so I can go to Brazil not to Venezuela as I am already here Roll Eyes


Lots of Guyanese in San Felix/ Puerto Ordaz area. Used to be thousands of Guyanese in Petare in Caracas but most left when it was easy for Venezuelans to get a US visa.


I have heard about El Tigre in Anzoategui state but as Puerto Ordaz is the biggest city closer to Guyana there must me a big guyanese population. You know, they were lucky by leaving Petare because it is one of the most dangerous neighbourhood in Caracas, many crimes everyday, I wouldnΒ΄t go there at all if not needed Frown
FM
quote:
Originally posted by caribj:
Lucas Brazil is doing well because their economy and that of China are integrated into those of "evil white imperialists".

Brazil sells raw goods to China who converst into into manufactures for teh USA and Europe. They then invest their surpluses in US assets because they acnt absorb it into China's economy and the US represents the best alternative.

Sorry to bust that bubble but these are the facts.

Plus a lot of invetsment flows into Brazil are being intermediated by WALL STREET.

Brazil is doing well because it has to do well. Same about China. This happens because the time is up for the money printing economies. Nor Brazil or China are printing money, they are producing real and tangible goods that people can touch our eat, that is the secret.
FM

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