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Economy

Report: Brazil Is Most Expensive Developing Nation For Doing Business

Report: Brazil Is Most Expensive Developing Nation For Doing Business
Mariana Barbosa

SÃO PAULO - Brazil is the most expensive developing nation for doing business and has costs similar to developed countries, according to a study by consulting firm KPMG.

"Competitive Alternatives" is a regular KPMG report that compares the structure of costs for companies in different countries and localities, taking into account taxes, labor, rent, cost of capital and other factors.

For the first time, the 2012 edition covers the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) along with nine industrialized countries. The study compares 19 sectors, from automotive manufacturing to food processing and video games production. In all of them, Brazil is the most expensive among the developing nations.

Taking costs in the US as a basis, the research shows that, in general, doing business in Brazil is only 7% cheaper.

China, the least expensive country for doing business in the group, costs 25.8% less than the US, followed by India (25.3%) and Mexico (24.53%). More expensive than the US are Germany (0.1%), Australia (3.7%) and Japan (9.5%).

Considering only the automotive sector, Brazil is 5.4% less costly than the US, while Mexico is 13% cheaper.

In terms of taxes and duties, Brazil is 43% more expensive than the US, occupying the 11th place.

For KPMG, the fact that Brazil is “recognized as a developing nation” and has higher taxes than more mature economies is a riddle. The Brazilian scenario is even worse when factoring in tax incentives on research and development (R&D), essential to assure industry’s future competitiveness. On this list, Brazil is at the bottom.

Considering all the costs included in R&D, including qualified employees’ wages, Brazil is the 7th most expensive country in which to do business.

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Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

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