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IN CONVERSATION
HE Flávio S-oAarSeosuDrcaemoicfoI: nspiration
Singapore
and Abiding Friend to Brazil By Nomita Dhar
On the eve of his departure from Singapore, outgoing Ambassador of Brazil to
Singapore, HE Flávio Damico speaks to Editor-in-Chief Ms Nomita Dhar about the
lessons he is taking away and how they can benefit his home country
Your Excellency, you have seen the centre of economic gravity has slowly
and experienced many things moved away from the West to the East.
ever since you arrived here in Sin- This is a reality we have to be aware of.
gapore, three and a half years ago; it Much of my job in Singapore entails draw-
has been quite a roller-coaster ride and ing the attention of the Brazilian govern-
somehow you’ve managed to steer the ment to developments here.
ship of Brazil-Singapore ties in a posi-
tive direction. What’s happening in Bra- Since 2015, the Brazilian economy has
zil now on the economic front? improved a great deal. The risk percep-
In 2016, Brazil was in a very complicated tion has declined dramatically. In 2015,
economic and political situation: a dete- the annual inflation rate was 10.7%, the
riorating debt-to-GDP ratio compromis- interest rate 14.25%, the stock exchange
ing government accounts with serious index (IBOVESPA) 38,000 and Brazil’s
consequences. Beyond the short-term country risk was at 533 points. In 2019,
deleterious macroeconomic situation of the stock exchange index is 108,000 and
fiscal deficits, Brazil was in no position Brazil’s country risk 117 points – the low-
to fund necessary investments in infra- est level in 6 years, Our inflation too is at
the lowest: it’s about 3% and the interest
structure to boost the competitive- rates are now likely to drop to 4.5%, his-
ness of its exports of agricultural torically, its lowest rate. Thus a marked
and mineral commodities. Since improvement in all indicators!
our main markets are in Asia, we
are disadvantaged in relation Prospects for the resumption of a fast-
to our competitors. Simultane- er pace of growth by 2020 are quite good.
ously, the domestic political There has been one point about which we
situation was also very seri- are disappointed: the recovery has not
ous with enormous revulsion been, so far, accompanied by commensu-
against corruption, which led rate job creation. The economy is not yet
to important changes. Of strong enough to support consumer con-
course, we could not have fidence. Besides that, many of the com-
addressed this problem panies were hit hard by the weak perfor-
unless there was some mance of the economy in previous years.
political change for a
country that is one of This brings us to the problems facing
the largest producers our manufacturing sector, which has a
of commodities, both lot of hard work to do to become fully
in agriculture and oil competitive globally. To redress that, we
and gas. are moving very fast towards conclud-
Being here in Singa- ing trade deals. Mercosur has closed one
pore enabled me to consider with the European Union and also with
ways on how a country on the the European Free Trade Association. We
Atlantic could be relevant in a will have the second round of our trade
world where the Indo-Pacific is negotiations with Singapore shortly. So
more and more important. My now in economic terms we have a lot of
good friend Professor Danny clarity on where we are going and the
Quah, Dean of the Lee Kuan speed at which we can do this. Slowly,
Yew School of Public Policy, the pieces are falling into place and I’m
has argued convincingly that very happy to report the economy has
been at its healthiest stage after quite
a while.
6 It’s Time for Brazil in Singapore 2019
