Lula's Policies

摘要

The cornerstone to investor interest in Brazil may be President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said in mid-June that the country would not be resorting to such artificial mechanisms as price controls to break a surge in inflation when other Latin American countries were doing so. He also recently revealed his concern about consumption growing more rapidly than demand, a comment one would more likely expect from a central bank president than a former union leader. "The government of Lula, which took office at the beginning of 2003, has had responsible policies," says Pedro Batista, head of Brazil equity research for Banco UBS Pactual. "The commitment of the government is to maintain economic stability," Lula said when he was honored last June by the BM&F Bovespa, the result of the merger of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange with the Bolsa de Mercadorias e Futuros, Latin America's biggest derivatives market. The deal makes the combination the world's third-biggest stock exchange by market value. "The capital markets have a fundamental role in this phase of our history, and its numbers clearly show this," Lula said during the first-ever visit by a Brazilian president to the bourse.