Brazil still a viable source to boost Jamaican economy - Stone Roofe

DESPITE A slowdown in Brazil's GDP growth, Jamaica's ambassador to Brazil, Alison Stone Roofe, says the power of Brand Jamaica offers great opportunities for the island to tap into the South American nation.

"I don't worry too much about Brazil's slowed growth, given what I see on the ground here in the country as the head of mission and Jamaica's representative here," said Stone Roofe, who took up her current post last year.

"It is a country which is the size of the United States, 200 million strong with a growing middle class, a groundswell of new areas of investment with businessmen who are now more prone to be looking at new markets outside of Latin America and who are developing tastes which include travel and tourism and outward investment in economies which were previously ignored," Stone Roofe told The Gleaner.

She said Jamaica and other CARICOM states should "place themselves in the psyche of the Brazilians and become strategic partners in business, exporting, joint ventures and cross-cultural cooperation".

Growth in Brazil has slowed considerably since 2010, when it reached 7.5 per cent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It slowed to 2.7 per cent in 2011 and to 0.9 per cent in 2012.

The IMF now expects the Brazilian economy to grow by 2.5 per cent this year, down 0.5 points from its April forecast of 3 per cent. For 2014, Brazil's economy will grow by 3.2 per cent, down from 4 per cent.