Podcast

Explaining Brazil #60: Is privatization the answer for Brazil’s economy?

This episode, Is privatization the answer for Brazil’s economy?, is supported by Fast Help. Fast Help is a Brasília-based IT company that is focused on cybersecurity. Protect your business by teaming up with Fast Help. Go to fasthelp.com.br for more information on how to protect your company’s virtual space.

Brazil has 138 federally-owned companies—and the government wants to privatize every single one of them. But only 17 percent of Brazilians support the idea. Guests: Sandro Cabral, head of the Master’s Degree in Public Policies at São Paulo’s Insper Business School; and former Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles.

The privatization of state-owned telecommunication companies created competition in the sector—and popularized telephones. But privatization remains a dirty word in Brazil.

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On this episode:

Sandro Cabral head of the Master’s Degree in Public Policies at São Paulo’s Insper Business School.
Henrique Meirelles is the current São Paulo State Secretary of Finance. He served as the president of Brazil’s Central Bank for eight years, and as Finance Minister between 2016 and 2018.

Background reading:

Before talking about privatization, Brazil needs to learn about its state-owned companies.
What could Brazil gain from privatizing Petrobras?
The process of privatizing a publicly-owned company is complex. Meanwhile, Brazilian state banks are promoting major divestments.
How susceptible to corruption are Brazil’s institutions?

Explaining Brazil is made by:

Gustavo Ribeiro, editor in chief of The Brazilian Report. He has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics. His work has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets, including Veja, Época, Folha de São Paulo, Médiapart and Radio France Internationale.
Maria Martha Bruno, producer. She is a journalist with 14 years of experience in politics, arts, and breaking news. She has collaborated with Al Jazeera, NBC, and CNN, among others, and worked as an international correspondent in Buenos Aires.
Euan Marshall, editing. is a journalist and translator who has lived in São Paulo, Brazil since 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics and the connection between the two, his work has been published in The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Independent, among others.

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