(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

German production in Latin America, according to the German central bank,
around 23.5 billion were realized in Brazil and around 27.8 billion in Mexico.
(The value in US$ of the production volume in Brazil has decreased due to the
devaluation of the Real.) In both countries German companies account for
around 5% of GDP. They participate with around 15% in the creation of value
of the Brazilian industrial sector.” 257
Plans for German FDI in Brazil, according to the newspaper Estado de São
Paulo, amount to a reinvestment of 7.7 billion US-dollars from German transnational
corporations that already operate in Brazil. In addition to this investment, an investment
in infrastructure of 10 billion US-dollars is planned. Adding these two numbers
to the already realized FDI stock of currently 19 billion US-dollars would amount to an
FDI stock of 36.7 billion US-dollars. With this, Germany would have the top ranking
with regards to FDI stock in Brazil, even before the U.S. and Spain. 258
And not to forget the new overall remedy, which is capable of pulling chronically
indebted public budgets and companies suffering from weaknesses in demand out
of any possible crisis: PPP! Public-Private-Partnership (Parceria Público-Privada in
Portuguese), for example, works in the form of the dubious sell-and-lease-back principle,
which is increasingly enjoying cross-boarder popularity.
Cross-border leasing is a promising model for the indebted public sector and
the private sector, e.g., for the construction of roads or public institutions etc. In
this sense the new pluri-annual plan (Plano Pluriannual, PPA) presented by the
Lula-government in 2003 envisions several major projects to be publicly tendered
on an international level. Among these projects there are several ecologically and
socially doubtable projects, 259 like the waterway Rio Madeira and the large barrage
Belo Monte. 260 The enlargement of the Araguaia-Tocantins-complex, however, has
been provisionally stopped. The German NGO Urgewald e.V. had presented various
257
Own translation of the following original text: “Konzentration auf Industriesektor: Für Brasilien ergab sich 1995 nach
Angaben der Zentralbank des Landes folgende Aufteilung: Automobilbau & Kfz-Teilefertigung 32 %, Maschinen
& Anlagen 14 %, Chemie 10 %, Pharmazie 9 %, Dienstleistungssektor 9 %, Eisen & Stahl 8 %, Elektrotechnik
und Telekommunikationsprodukte 7 %, Lebensmittelverarbeitung 3 % und Grundstoffsektor (Landwirtschaft
und Bergbau) 2 Deutsche Produktion in Lateinamerika viermal so hoch wie Export dorthin: Die Bedeutung
des deutschen Lateinamerika-Engagements wird auch daraus ersichtlich, daß das Produktionsvolumen der
deutschen Tochterunternehmen in Lateinamerika im Jahr 2001 mit ca. 65,3 Mrd den gesamten deutschen Export
in die Region (ca.16 Mrd) um mehr als das vierfache überstieg. Vom Gesamtwert der deutschen Produktion in
Lateinamerika entfielen nach Angaben der Bundesbank ca. 23,5 Mrd auf Brasilien und ca. 27,8 Mrd auf Mexiko.
(Der US$-Wert des Produktionsvolumens in Brasilien hatte sich durch die Real-Abwertung verringert.) In diesen
beiden Ländern schaffen deutsche Unternehmen etwa 5 % des BIP. An der Wertschöpfung des Brazilianischen
Industriesektors sind sie mit rund 15 % beteiligt.” Taken from: Rösler, Peter: Ausländische Direktinvestitionen in
Lateinamerika, Ibero-Amerika Verein, July 30, 2003.
258
O Estado de São Paulo, November 30, 2002. See: http://www.estado.com.br/editorias/2002/11/30/
eco021.html.
259
See the Urgewald-studies at: http://www.urgewald.de
260 Also see: Agência Brasil, September 19, 2003.
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