Policies in place to weather the storms
Brazil to gain a new global profile?
Banks trade on their strengths
Profitability holds up – so far
Consolidation to accelerate?
Petrobras: hope amid the storm
While much of the focus of recent months has been on the effect of the financial and economic crisis on the banking sector, in Brazil its effect on the corporate sector is of at least equal immediate importance. Certainly, the financial environment is likely to have more significant short-term repercussions for Brazilian corporates than for those in a number of other countries.
There are three Brazil-specific reasons for this. Firstly, many Brazilian corporates used derivatives to hedge against changes in the value of the real. Unfortunately, these were taken out during a period of consistent appreciation and low volatility and the real’s more than 30% depreciation since June has resulted in huge losses – as well as gumming up the broader short-term borrowing market.
Even as President Lula was saying that Brazil would remain aloof from the problems affecting the US and Europe in September 2008, the economy was becoming rapidly contaminated by the global financial crisis. Moreover, according to Marco Maciel, chief economist at Banco Pine, the central bank exacerbated a pre-existing problem – more than 200 companies holding overly aggressive foreign exchange derivatives contracts predicated on real appreciation – by being slow to take action.