-----Mensagem original----- De: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]Em nome de Leslilake1 at aol.com Enviada em: sábado, 19 de maio de 2001 03:03 Para: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Assunto: brazilian drought & power crisis
Anyone know any background on this?
Les
Monday May 14, 5:55 pm Eastern Time
Brazil to unveil energy rationing plan May 18
BRASILIA, May 14 (Reuters) - Brazil's government said Monday it would bring forward by five days to May 18 the announcement of plans to ration energy as it seeks to calm a worried public and nervous investors over chronic energy shortages.
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said in a televised address after the first meeting of a special task force to deal with the crisis that a plan to deal with the shortages will be announced five days earlier than originally planned.
Woes over the energy shortage rose sharply last week as economists said it would likely cut economic growth. The prospect of rationing has sent financial markets reeling.
Acute water shortages at reservoirs have been sparked by the worst drought in 70 years, sharply reducing energy output at hydroelectric plants which provide 90 percent of Brazil's electricity.
Cardoso added that all possibilities mentioned so far, such as cutting energy consumption through rationing, were ``hypothesis'' and the final details will be announced Friday.
``It is undeniable that this (energy shortage) has an emergency aspect,'' said Cardoso.
Expectations until now have been that energy rationing would be introduced in June and last until the end of November to cut energy consumption by 20 percent.
Cardoso did, however, say that the federal government would start rationing energy already this month, with a target of federal public offices reducing consumption by 15 percent this month from consumption the same month a year earlier.
Finance Minister Pedro Malan said Monday that the government had not coordinated well the looming energy crisis. ``I have no problem admitting this, there has certainly been a problem with communication and coordination among various parts of the government,'' said Malan.
Cardoso said the crisis would only be overcome if there is clarity in information. ``The government has to talk directly to the people,'' the president said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Yes, they are good news, since it will demoralize a government already involved in corruption scandals and with a faltering economy, due to growing current account debt and the massive damage caused by high interest rates in the public debt. The energy crisis has came in addition to those small troubles. The government was simply too negligent and didn´t make the needed investments to increase energy supply. So they started to use excess of water from dam reservoirs to keep energy production (in Brazil 80% of power is generated by Hydroeletric plants). The volume of those reservoirs in the Southeast region (the richer in the country) decreased from 99% of total capacity in 1993 to 34% in 2000!!! To make things worse the government started a privatizion program, so state owned power companies didn´t make investments in new plants, since they were scheduled for privatization. New private thermoeletric plants didn´t materialized, since the real devaluation in 1999 decreased dramatically the revenues (in dollar) from selling energy (it would be necessary a 120% increase in the prices to the final consumer to keep pace with the dollar), so foreign companies didn´t build new plants. Of the 49 new plants planned by the government, only 15 were built (13 by the state owned oil company). From 1991 to 2001 the energy supply increased 3,3% an year while the demand increased by 4,1%. The IFM adjustement program also contibuted to the disaster, since the government couldn´t make investments withe State owned enterprises to fulfill the surplus targeted in agreements. There are the elements for current disaster, which comes a few days after the government literaly bought 20 representatives in the congress to avoid an Investigation comission on the main scandals of corruption in the government. I hope this right wing neocolonialist government will be hardly hut by the crisis, althought myself will pay a price too (what I will do happily).
Alexandre Fenelon