Once again the Brazilian government has demonstrated their complete lack of concern for the Brazilian economic crisis, and absence of anything that remotely resembles economic vision.
In the midst of the worst period of crisis in recent history, when the Brazilian economy has derailed, rather than taking proactive measures to get it back on the tracks it appears that they're doing their best to push the locomotive off the cliff.
Typical Brazilian mindset... no matter how many taxes and fees there are, there are never enough to satisfy politicians; and they can't grasp the concept of there being a threshold beyond which you can't get any more blood out of the stone. The recent move to more than triple the minimum investment required in order to obtain a permanent visa for investors couldn't have come at a worse time for the Brazilian economy, and it couldn't have been a dumber move on the part of the "disgovernment" than anything they've done in a long time. Instead of encouraging foreign investment which creates Brazilian jobs, they're doing the exact opposite.
Raising the minimum investment to R$500 thousand will clearly put investment in this country right out of the reach of the small businessman. It may also have the unexpected effect of scaring off the middle and large investors too, given the new minimum and taking into account the mountain of taxes, crushing bureaucracy of the exceptionally time consuming process of business start-up in this country. It presently takes on average 120 days to wade through the registration process at the various level of government involved (federal / state / municipal), as opposed to anywhere from 30 to 60 days in most other countries. When one considers the protectionist labor laws that tip the scales completely in the favor of workers, and government meddling in most private sector businesses anyone in their right mind will simple give up on trying to turn a buck, euro, pound, yen or real in Brazil altogether, especially if it means having your entire initial investment locked in for a minimum of 3 years.
Sadly, you can't expect much else from a government that couldn't care less about the people they were elected by. A government that presently is scrambling to stay one step ahead of the ongoing and ever growing corruption and money laundering investigations that are now reaching the highest levels of government.
It really is true... YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID.
Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team
