SWF Radar Brazil

The Associated Press reports that Edison Lobao, Brazil’s energy minister, has suggested the creation of a sovereign wealth fund to invest earnings from the oil that the country recently found offshore.

Bloomberg reports that, “Brazil may allow pension funds to increase equity holdings beyond the current 50 percent limit as early as next year, a Ministry of Social Security official said.”

Bloomberg reports that, “Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send a bill to Congress tomorrow [Thursday] to create a sovereign wealth fund, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.”

Bloomberg writes that, “Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega will propose that the sovereign wealth fund include future revenue from recently discovered oil in the so-called pre-salt offshore deposits, Valor Economico reported.”

The Financial Times reports that, “The Brazilian government plans to use revenues from newly discovered oil fields to create a sovereign wealth fund containing as much as $200bn-$300bn in the next three to five years, Guido Mantega, finance minister, has told the Financial Times.”

Bloomberg reports that, “Brazil is increasing the budget surplus before interest payments regardless of the creation of a sovereign wealth fund, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.”

Thomson Reuters reports that, “Brazil will increase its primary budget surplus by at least 0.5 percent of gross domestic product to help finance a new sovereign wealth fund, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday.”

Dow Jones reports that, “Brazil’s government has not yet made a final decisions on the formation or operation of a massive sovereign wealth fund under study by economic advisers, Planning Minister Paulo Bernardo said Thursday.”

Thomson Reuters reports that, “Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has ordered the creation of a sovereign wealth fund, but the government is still working out details, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday.”

The article quotes Mantega as saying that, “President Lula determined that we launch the sovereign fund. The bill is practically finished and there are only some legal aspects pending”

Reports earlier today suggested that da Silva had cooled on the idea of creating a Brazilian SWF.

Here is more on the subject from Bloomberg.

Bloomberg writes that, “Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva suspended a plan to start a sovereign wealth fund because he has questions about the use of budget resources to form it, Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported, without saying how it obtained the information.”