Rousseff woos business elite

Brazil’s leftist president Dilma Rousseff will try to convince the world’s business elite this week that her country is still a good investment despite three years of mediocre growth. The one-time Marxist guerrilla will reach out to the rich and powerful for the first time, at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, to reassure them she is business-friendly and not fiscally profligate. That is a turnaround for a leader with a reputation for heavy-handed policies that have squeezed profits of some companies and hurt share prices. Dispelling scepticism will be an uphill task as she plans to seek re-election in October. “No one expects her government to make an effort to balance its fiscal policy in an election year,” said Ricardo Ribeiro, a political analyst at consultancy MCM. – Reuters