Word: brazile
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There is an expression in Brazil--dar um jeito--that, loosely translated, means no problem is unsolvable and no barrier too great to cross. Dr. Randas Jose Vilela Batista adopted this attitude in dealing with the patients in his tiny rural hospital outside Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. Many of them were dying of congestive heart failure, which caused their hearts to weaken and enlarge. Because he lacked the resources necessary for the standard American treatments for the disease--drug therapy and heart transplant--Batista needed to come up with a different solution. The one he finally adopted appears...
...conditions under which Batista, 50, operates when he is in Brazil are spartan at best. There is little modern monitoring equipment at his Curitiba hospital. Instead, his technicians are instructed to look for three things: the patient's feet should be pink, to demonstrate adequate blood pressure; there should be urine output, to indicate that the patient has not lost kidney function; and the surgical drain should be clear, to show no internal bleeding. Surgeons depend on large windows in the operating room to provide adequate light for operations...
...future could be even brighter. Only 30% of Brazil's proven oil reserves are developed, and Petrobras has first call on much of the rest. The volume of those reserves is expected to grow substantially as the company explores the vast Amazon Basin and oil pools off the Atlantic coast. Petrobras has become a leader in drilling deepwater, offshore wells in the so-called Campos Basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Now the company is looking into joint ventures with 56 potential foreign partners, including Exxon, Shell and British Gas, which would allow expanded exploration around the country...
Renno's talents will be tested as he faces the looming share sell-off. Nationalism runs high in Brazil, and many citizens oppose any auction of national patrimony. Government oversight is another perennial issue. Many important decisions about Petrobras are made not at corporate headquarters in Rio de Janeiro but at government ministries in Brasilia. In the past this has led to overstaffing and inefficiencies that could hinder the pace of future growth. "There has to be a change of mentality from being big to being more profitable," notes Ana Siqueira, an energy analyst with Icatu, a Rio de Janeiro...
...Lexington, Mass. In Mexico, between April and June, the economy surged 8.8% over the same period a year earlier. Growth is expected to hit 6% in 1997 and 4.8% in 1998. Inflation, which reached 34.4% in 1996, will be sliced in half by the end of next year. Brazil's economy will expand 4% this year and 4.4% in 1998, according to Behravesh. Argentina, which was wallowing in recession in 1995, has rebounded sharply and will grow 6.5% this year and 5.5% in 1998, he predicts. Inflation will be zero this year and below 4% next year...