Rio de Janeiro – Eletrobrás may review up the volume of investment of 30 billion Brazilian reals (US$ 16.3 billion) forecasted for the coming four years. "Our objective is still to invest 30 billion reals over the next four years, but we are making pressure to increase this volume, which may occur as a result of approval of the budget for 2010," said yesterday (11) the president of the state-owned company, José Muniz Lopez, on participating in the Energy Summit.
Lopez said that the need to increase the volume of private funds forecasted was evident after an evaluation of the projects. "On evaluating our projects we noticed that we need a greater ceiling than the one we had been working in the PAI (Annual Investment Plan)," he said.
The Eletrobrás president also said that the company already has money in the till to develop the projects and engagements taken on for the coming four years, and does not discard getting market financing if necessary. "If more engagements arise we head onto the market. It is all a question of opportunity. But today we do not need funds, as we have our own fund to finance our companies."
Lopez added that the company continues requesting from the government of Brazil the same treatment as that granted to Petrobras, which was removed from the primary surplus calculation, increasing the organisation’s investment capacity. "We could invest more in projects of interest to Brazil and are limited due to the primary surplus. In our opinion, it would be much better for Brazil if we were outside the primary surplus calculation," he said.
*Translated by Mark Ament