On June 6, Squire Patton Boggs’ Miami office hosted the Brazil-Florida Business Council and its members for a discussion titled “Brazil Mid-Year Outlook: The Bolsonaro Administration Scorecard.”
The program featured two prominent speakers, Paulo Leme, former CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs Brazil and Professor of Finance at the University of Miami Business School, and John Price, Managing Director of Americas Market Intelligence and Professor at Florida International University. Dr. Susan K. Purcell, the former Director of the Center for Hemisphere Policy, University of Miami, moderated the discussion. The program discussed Brazil’s enormous upside potential and the challenges President Jair Bolsonaro faces in his efforts to improve Brazil’s economy. The program also explored the mechanisms by which Mr. Bolsonaro could put into effect his plan to implement promised budget-tightening reforms and help expand the private sector. Mr. Bolsonaro was elected President of Brazil last October with 55.1% of the total votes. No stranger to government, he served as a Federal Deputy for Rio de Janeiro for 27 years. He is known for his strong support of liberal and pro-market economic policies and conservative social policies.
On April 15, the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) scheduled the 6th bidding round for the pre-salt under the partnership agreement to be held on November 7. The hearing to discuss pre-notice and drafts of the production sharing agreements will be held on May 6. Companies interested in participating in the bidding must communicate their intention in the bidding round until September 19.
Earlier this month, the Argentine government published a public tender for the construction and operation of a 487 kilometer, high-voltage electricity network, five substations, and ancillary 132 kV infrastructure, ultimately involving five provinces. This project aims to relieve current transmission congestion and increase the capacity of the country’s existing transmission network through a 15 year term public-private partnership (PPP) contract. According to the current tender calendar, proposals are due May 2019 and the award of the contract is expected in July 2019, with construction scheduled to last 36 months.
On October 31, Fitch Ratings lowered its long-term outlook for Mexico from stable to negative, while keeping the country’s sovereign credit rating at investment grade. This, largely in reaction to Mexico President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s (also known as AMLO) statement on October 29 that once in office he plans to cancel the continued development of the US$13.3 Billion partially-constructed New International Airport of Mexico City (NAIM). The NAIM, sited on the outskirts of Mexico City in Texcoco, is considered the largest airport under construction in the world. Such move comes as a result of AMLO’s presidential campaign promise to combat alleged corruption and overspending on such project, and to hold a referendum for the public to determine whether to shut down its continued construction. Bolstered by the results of such referendum held on October 29, AMLO has announced that instead of continuing with the NAIM, he will support a plan to revitalize and expand an existing military airport to supplement the capacity of the Benito Juarez International Airport that currently receives 44 million passengers per year, but was originally only designed to handle 32 million annual passengers.
During a recent visit to Washington, DC, Argentina’s Minister of Production and Labor, Miguel Braun, stated that Argentina’s government continues to strengthen its economy by focusing on increasing foreign direct investment to the country.
Brazil has taken another important step towards the battle against corruption. In August 2018, Brazil enacted Decree-Law No. 9,468/18, which provides broader power to the Public Transparency and Anti-Corruption Council, public entity subject to the Secretary of Transparency, Supervision and Control of Brazil.
On Thursday, September 6, 2018, the United States House of Representatives passed 