During his administration, former US President Donald Trump also attempted to have an “investment week,” which was marked by talks with controversial statements on topical issues, while newspapers called his “lasting joke” plan.
Still a candidate, Trump in 2016 proposed a plan of up to $ 1 trillion to take advantage of America’s infrastructure. The idea, which dragged on under his government (2017-2020), was to attract investment through the sale of government bonds to modernize highways, railways, bridges and broadband.
This Wednesday (7), the Ministry of Infrastructure launches its Brazilian version, and tries to put into practice what Trump did not achieve in his administration. The event, which brings together 28 asset auctions, at B3 headquarters in São Paulo, runs until Friday (9).
During the first “Infrastructure Week,” in June 2017, Trump accused James Comey, director of the FBI, sacked last month, of lying during testimony in Congress on the investigation into his alleged links. campaign with Russia.
Postponed to August, the event turned into a press interview in which the then president made controversial statements about white supremacist acts in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Over the years, Trump has upped the fundraising numbers, but the “Investment Weeks” have been marked by controversy, a sort of “smokescreen week” – and nothing has been captured.
In 2018, the government raised that figure to $ 1.5 trillion for the next ten years, and Trump said he would “spur the biggest and boldest infrastructure investment in American history.” , according to the New York Times.
In 2019, in a deal with Democrats, the value of the infrastructure plan rose to $ 2 trillion. At the time, the Times called Infrastructure Week a “sustainable joke”. Trump’s plan continued to drag on, and with the Covid-19 pandemic, raising investment for highways and other areas was left behind.
This month, the British magazine The Economist broached the subject with the advancement of plans by Biden, which intends to spend $ 2 trillion over the next eight years on infrastructure, and summed up the “investment week. As a euphemism for “government incompetence.” Trump and his efforts to distract himself from his many scandals.
In the Brazilian case, the financial market is eagerly awaiting the auction. Banks, investment funds and private groups have visited the ministry in the past six months interested in bidding at the auction.
In March, in a live for investors, the Minister of Infrastructures, Tarcísio de Freitas, classified the so-called Infra Week as a “milestone in the history of concessions” of the portfolio.
The ministry plans to raise 10 billion reais in private investments and create 200,000 direct and indirect jobs on leases and concessions. There will be 22 airports, the West-East Integration Railway (Fiol), in Bahia, and 5 port terminals.