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Brazil's Rousseff working to prevent a debacle in 2014

21 November 2013 22:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Seen from Brazil's modernist, glass-walled presidential palace, 2014 looks like a minefield, APA rpoerts quoting Reuters.

The economy, already sputtering, will probably slow even further. A downgrade of Brazil's credit rating seems possible, if not likely. The World Cup of soccer, which Brazil will host in June and July, could end up revealing to billions of TV viewers the shoddy government planning and transportation bottlenecks that have frustrated investors here for years.

To top it all off, leftist President Dilma Rousseff is up for re-election in October - meaning if any of those things go horribly awry, she might lose her job.

Rousseff is spending the final weeks of 2013 trying to restore her government's tattered credibility with business leaders, keep budget spending under control, and otherwise ensure that next year does not turn out to be her worst - or final - year in office.

None of the measures amount to a fundamental change in policy. A dozen senior officials interviewed by Reuters over the past week described an administration that is concerned by Brazil's deteriorating reputation in financial markets, but thinks the pessimism is overblown and is therefore unconvinced of the need for a major overhaul.

Instead, Rousseff is focused more on "putting the house in order," in the words of one official, before the 2014 election campaign kicks off in earnest and the U.S. Federal Reserve begins reining in its monetary stimulus, a move that is likely to cause instability in emerging markets like Brazil.

In recent days, the president has: cut a deal that should prevent Congress from passing new spending bills; reversed a decision that would have allowed cities and states to spend more; and personally oversaw an auction of airports to the private sector, which she hopes will help prevent travel chaos during the World Cup.

The touching-up has even extended to Rousseff herself: After visibly gaining weight during her nearly three years in office, the 65-year-old grandmother is now on a diet.

She has also begun using Twitter for the first time in her presidency. That's part of a broader social media push aimed not just at the election, but at giving Rousseff a direct line to Brazilians should there be a repeat in 2014 of the massive anti-government street protests that rocked the country in June.