Brazil will not further expand taxes to all foreign capital but could step up defensive measures to shield its pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries from foreign competition, Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel said in an interview published on Sunday.
Pimentel told O Estado de Sao Paulo that Latin America's biggest economy will have to get used to a strong real as a result of heavy capital inflows attracted by the country's high interest rates. But asked whether the government would generalise a 6 percent tax on financial transactions recently expanded to debt of up to five years in the hope of curbing short term foreign deposits he said: "No. It is not going to happen."
However, Pimentel signalled the government could take further steps to protect its industry battered by the appreciated real but also by a heavy tax burden, bureaucracy and red tape.