New study: Brazil may become world's single largest exporter of

Emerging Markets Economy, Jul 5, 2004

Divine Capital Markets LLC, a leading women-owned securities brokerage and investment bank serving institutional managers and high net worth individuals, announced Monday the release of the second of a series of independent research reports focusing on macroeconomic and company specific coverage for Brazil, Russia, India and China - the world's top four emerging market economies.

The most recent report, prepared by Divine Capital's senior emerging markets analyst Sylvester Walczak provides a detailed, 12- page analysis of the Brazil economy and includes a projection that overall GDP growth for 2004 will reach 4%, and that select equities within the steel, raw materials and financial sectors are poised to achieve price gains of 30-50% over the next twelve months. Longer term analysis indicates that within ten years, Brazil may become the world's single largest exporter of agricultural products.

According to Mr. Walczak, "The factors contributing to Brazil's economic growth include the country's increasingly dominant role as a global exporter of agricultural products and its burgeoning trading relationship with China. Between 2000 and 2003, trade figures between Brazil and China have increased exponentially; from $1.5 billion annually to more than $8 billion last year. This trend is expected to continue, as Brazilian government officials forecast a further ten- fold increase in trade with China over the next several years, and is otherwise illustrative of a macro trend towards significantly increasing trade among the BRIC countries."

Danielle Hughes, founder and President of Divine Capital stated, "Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Brazil's exports are not only agricultural and industrial commodities. The country has a large and diversified manufacturing base. In fact, Brazil's largest exports to the United States are mid-size aircraft and cell phones, followed by electric machinery and petroleum."

Mr. Walczak further stated, "Notwithstanding the historically volatile nature of the Brazilian economy, recent reductions in total debt and a markedly improving political climate should stimulate a 40% increase in foreign direct investments for fiscal 2004, signaling a change of course and countering a declining trend over each of the prior three years."