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Brazil to double per capita income by 2022
April 13, 2013, 1:04 pm

[AP]

Dilma Rousseff says Brazil needs to improve infrastructure [AP]

Brazil is looking to double per capita income by 2022, when Brazil celebrates 200 years of independence from Portugal, announced President Dilma Rousseff.

“We will soon celebrate the 200th anniversary of our independence, and on that day, we will have to look back and see what we did to build our sovereignty, our development, and the well-being of our people …our goal is…to double our per capita income, ” Rousseff told a business ceremony.

Brazil’s per capita income remained stable at $11,429 last year according to official figures.

Last year, Brazil’s economy grew a scant 0.9 per cent, according to official figures, much less than the government had projected.

Brazil’s poor economic performance came despite a flurry of stimulus measures announced by Rousseff, including lowering the basic interest rate to a historic low of 7.25 per cent, expanding credit lines and cutting taxes to the private sector, among others.

On Friday, the Brazilian president also underlined the urgent need for “strong infrastructure” for the country.

The 1980’s oversaw a critical disregard to investment in infrastructure, Rousseff noted.

She highlighted recent investment in logistics and transport networks, and announced an investment of $1.2 billion in infrastructure in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul state.

The government plans to build a railway to connect Rio Grande do Sul with the country’s largest city Sao Paulo and farther north, she said.

“We need infrastructure projects…our country need to be competitive, and we will only be competitive if we have strong infrastructure,” said the president.

In February Rousseff had announced a measure to lift 2.5 million people out of extreme poverty by increasing supplementary family incomes through the country’s Bolsa Família social programme to above R$ 70 ($36) per person per month, an official press release said.

Brazil hosted the Earth summit last year and will host a World Cup and an Olympics in the next four years, expected to give a boost to Latin America’s biggest economy.

With inputs from Agencies