Brazil

This report examines the implications of spatial heterogeneity - the uneven distribution of poverty, growth, and environmental assets - for policy. Its goal is to inform... Show More + a wide set of policies that are either explicitly spatially targeted or may have unanticipated spatial implications. These include poverty alleviation policies targeted on poor municipios; demand-driven poverty alleviation policies; territorial development policies aimed at stimulating growth in a multi-municipio region; growth policies targeted on semi-arid regions; policies to protect environmental assets. The report focuses on clarifying some of the fundamental assumptions and underpinnings of spatially oriented development policies, addressing six questions organized in three sections. Are policies targeted at poor municipios effective in reaching poor people? Do demand-driven policies favor poor people? What explains divergent labor market experiences in rural areas? Are poverty and economic stagnation in the Northeast closely tied to agroclimatic conditions? Is poverty a major determinant of Amazonian deforestation? Is there a steep trade-off between forest protection and agricultural output? The report advances knowledge in each of these areas, but unresolved issues remain for debate and research. Show Less -

The Brazil Environmental Sustainability Agenda Technical Assistance Project supports the Government on advancing the pace of reforms supporting the Programmatic Reform... Show More + Loan for Environmental Sustainability as defined in the Policy Letter presented by the government on July 7,2004. There are five project components: 1) strengthening of the environmental management system, including defining environmental indicators and bolstering the Ministry of Environment's management capacity; 2) improving biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources (the "Green Agenda"); 3) improving management of environmental risks due to hazardous chemicals (the "Brown Agenda"); 4) improving water resources management (the "Blue Agenda"); and 5) mainstreaming environmental sustainability in selected government sectors (e.g., fiscal sector, hydropower sector, tourism, etc.). Show Less -

Brazil today is at an advanced stage in the corporate governance debate, and demand for voting shares, transparency, tag along rights, and other corporate governance... Show More + rights has increased significantly. As a result, share offerings take place on the special listing segments rather than on the main board. Enforcement has improved substantially, as the securities regulator, (CVM), enforces laws and regulations in a consistent and predictable fashion. The private sector took the initiative to provide incentives that will bridge the gap between the existing legal framework and best practice for issuers who want to distinguish themselves in the competition for capital at home and abroad. The stock exchange (BOVESPA) introduced special listing segments requiring progressively stricter corporate governance standards. These have given investors a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance. CVM, BOVESPA, the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC) and firms listed on the Novo Mercado have been major champions and drivers of change. The challenge now is to 'mainstream' corporate governance reform beyond this limited group of insiders and make it an integral part of the investment climate agenda. Show Less -

During the last century, Brazil was one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Between 1901 and 2000, Brazil's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita grew at... Show More + an average annual rate of 4.4 percent. Brazil's long-run growth has rivaled that of counties such as South Korea, universally praised as a stellar performer. Brazil does not received the same praise. Perhaps one reason is that more has been expected of Brazil, especially by Brazilians themselves. After all the country is richly endowed with natural resources and is blessed with an energetic people. Perhaps is that economic growth in Brazil has been more erratic than in other countries, or it may be that this economic growth performance has been accompanied by high inequality, thus diminishing the "quality" of growth. How is it that the country with the fastest growth in the region also has the highest inequality? Are the two facts related, and if so, what can be done to improve the pattern of future income growth across the social classes, and reduce its extreme inequality and the breadth and depth of its poverty? The first volume summarizes the overall conclusions for policy drawn from the seven background papers presented in the second volume, and other relevant research, as well as giving a historical account of the driving forces behind Brazilian growth since the 1960s. Show Less -

This report finalized in March 2001 constitutes a step toward the objective of designing an integrated strategy for rural poverty reduction in Brazil, The report contains... Show More + an updated and more detailed profile of the rural poor in the northeast (NE) and southeast (SE) of Brazil; identifies key determinants of rural poverty in these regions; and proposes a five-pronged strategic framework in which to couch a set of integrated policies that could effectively help to reduce rural poverty in Brazil. This tentative set of policy options was identified via an analysis of rural poverty determinants complemented with an evaluation of relevant current public programs and six in-depth thematic studies that bear on critical components of the proposed integrated policy approach aimed at reducing rural poverty in the NE and SE of Brazil: 1) the dynamics of the Brazilian small farm sector, 2) rural labor markets, 3) rural land markets, 4) rural non-farm employment, 5) rural education, and 6) rural pensions. While this study emphasizes primarily microeconomic events--such as the impact of schooling, income transfers, and access to land and credit--poverty reduction requires both economic growth (macro-level) and specific anti-poverty policies (micro-level). Show Less -

The audit reviews the assessments of the Northeast Rural Development Program for both the Ceara (NERDPC) and Paraiba (NERDPP) projects, concurring with the Implementation... Show More + Completion Report satisfactory outcomes of the NERDPC, and highly satisfactory rating of the NERDPP. Furthermore, performances of both the Bank, and borrower are upgraded to highly satisfactory, in light of the success of the projects' restructuring, and flexible supervision responsiveness by the Bank, in addition to the strong government commitment, enhanced by the extension agency's technical assistance (TA) provision for subproject preparation, and implementation. Lessons reflect on the superior performance of the NERDPP, partly due to the preponderance of electrification - the least problematic of all subprojects, but also because of its higher accuracy in beneficiary accountability, larger percentage of associations with TA, leading to higher proportion of technically sustainable projects. Based primarily on the proven technical viability of subprojects, and reliability of cost recovery from the rural electrification component, sustainability of both projects is likely. Similarly, evidenced by the subprojects contribution to social capital formation, and the diversification of funding sources for subproject investments, institutional development is rated as substantial. Show Less -

The study consists of two volumes, the first volume contains a detailed summary of the report findings, and policy implications, and, the second volume, the Policy Report,... Show More + contains discussions on policy recommendations for each of the components of the Brazilian social security system. An overview on the dimensions of the social security challenge, reviews the system components, revealing unsustainable fiscal imbalances, and administrative weaknesses in both the unreformed General Regime for Social Security (RGPS), and the Pension Regime for Government Workers (RJU), with large tax-related distortions, and labor market inefficiency. Thus the goals of Brazil's reforms are to reduce fiscal deficits, lower actuarial imbalances, increase equity and redistribution, reduce collateral inefficiencies, and facilitate growth of funded pensions. The study implies there is no recourse for the country, but to lower the high, uniform replacement rates (experience suggests that rates higher than 40-70 percent, cannot be sustained) and, spells out that the key to effective reform of social security, is widening the debate to include potential winners from these changes, particularly the private sector, the young, and the poor. Policy recommendations suggest, that the adverse equity effects of RGPS reforms, should be widely publicized to generate political support for deeper RJU reform. Show Less -

This is the Project Completion Report (PCR) for the Fourth Agro-industries Credit Project in Brazil. The PCR concludes that the project had good overall results, noting... Show More + that a majority of the sub-projects are performing well. As per the Operation Evaluation Department (OED), the outcome of the project is unsatisfactory with sustainability as uncertain. Institutional impact was negligible. The project aimed to support productive agro-industrial investments, and to liberalize credit in the agricultural sector, with a US$300 million loan mostly for local expenditures. Despite an encouraging start, and general success in exceeding the target reduction of official credit for agro-industry, the National Program of Agro-Industrial Development (PNDA) experienced several problems during implementation. These problems resulted from (i) the project's two-stage implementation and problems in indexing and pricing sub-loans; (ii) the consequences for Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional - National Treasury Secretariat (STN), PBs, and beneficiaries of delays in replenishing the Special Account; and (iii) the pace of commitments to refinance and associated foreign-exchange losses for STN. Lessons learned are as follows :(a) All future lending should be in US dollars to minimize the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the value of sub-loans and flow of repayments to STN. (b) Participation can and should be broadened. Although more than 50 Participating Bank (PBs) had been accredited by Banco Central do Brasil - Central Bank of Brazil (BACEN), only fourteen actually participated in the project. (c) Local project supervision should be improved by making the various data bases on PNDA disbursements compatible with one another. (d) STN should take steps to provide information on loan implementation and, results, as requested by the Bank. Show Less -