Brazil Rio 2016

"Today is a day to celebrate because today Brazil was upgraded from a second-class country to a first-class countr!" (Brazil's President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the press conference after Rio's victory)

Abstract

The recent selection of Rio de Janeiro as host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games just underlines what many people have been saying for some time now: that Brazil has truly arrived as a power on the international stage. Even before the Olympics arrive, Brazil will be hosting the Confederations Cup in 2013 and FIFA World Cup in 2014.

Brazil's stable economic policies and burgeoning domestic market mean that it has been less affected by the world economic slowdown than many countries, so it has come to be seen as something of a safe haven for investors. The discovery of massive oil reserves off its coast has boosted Brazil's geopolitical importance and economic prospects.

Despite all this, there are many saying that Brazil, and more particularly Rio, are not ready for the Olympic Games. There are certainly a number of areas that will require serious attention and the authorities have a lot of work to do between now and 2016 to improve Rio's infrastructure.

The Federal, State and Municipal Governments have committed to invest $U.S.14.4 billion in hosting the Rio Games and in improvements to the city's infrastructure. As well as the sports facilities themselves, Rio's candidacy dossier proposed significant investments in transportation, hotels and urban redevelopment, which have the potential to transform this city and give an additional boost to the Brazilian economy.

1. General information about Brazil and Rio de Janeiro

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, having a population of around 192 million. Brazil is also the largest and most influential market in South America. With an abundance of agricultural and mineral resources, and a government that is actively encouraging foreign investment, Brazil is one of the world's increasingly attractive places to operate business activities. Despite entering recession early in 2009 strong domestic consumption helped the economy recover quickly and the market expectation is for an expansion of GDP of over 4 per cent in 2010.

On the official website of 2016 Olympic Games, in the article called "Rio is ready", the officials were saying that: "We are the world's second biggest food exporter, one of the world's largest oil and ore producers and the fifth largest advertising market. Our diverse economy is the engine of South America and one of the world's top 10 consumer markets. We have the highest levels of Internet use in the world". (http://www.rio2016.org.br/en/PorqueRio/, 2009)

According to an article from Ziarul Financiar (2009), a Romanian newspaper,