British finance minister George Osborne unveiled plans Monday to ramp up exports to Latin America, as he embarked on a visit to World Cup and Olympic hosts Brazil. Despite the Latin American giant of some 200 million being the world's seventh-largest economy, Brazil was the destination of just one percent of British exports last year - leaving Britain trailing behind EU neighbours Germany, France and Italy.
"For decades, we have not been exporting enough - not just to Brazil, but to all the fastest growing markets in the world, so I am confronting that historic weakness head-on," Osborne told business leaders. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said Britain aims to ensure a lasting infrastructure investment legacy from the partnership Britain struck with Brazil when it handed on the Olympic torch from London to Rio in 2012.
British sources said one major deal coming to fruition is a commitment by Rolls Royce to build a 22-million-pound ($36 million; 26.5 million euros) marine facility in Rio. Osborne meanwhile was to meet Tuesday with his Brazilian counterpart Guido Mantega and Central Bank of Brazil governor, Alexandre Tombini and also visit the Sao Paulo stock exchange. The British finance minister said he was doubling government export lending and cutting the interest rates on that lending by a third.