Its called a carry trade. Carry trade's aren't huge in Brazil compared to the rest of the world. And at the moment a lot of carry trades have already been unwound as its an extremely high risk strategy especially at times of high volatility and risk, ie the environment at the moment.

In Salvador I m noticing R$1,79 for achool, R$2,69 for petrol (or gas which ever you call it) and suprisingly only R$2,15 for deisel. Ralph, now in the UK deisel is about £0.20 higher than petrol at around £1.39 litre.

Whichever way you chalk it up, combustivel here in Brazil is at least 50% more expensive than in the United States. And here in Brazil Petrobras and many others are always spouting off about being "self sufficient" in oil whereas the U.S. imports at least 50% of its oil!

What good is it being self-sufficient in anything if you're charging your own citizens 50% more than in other countries that are importing large percentages?

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www.mjrdevelopments.com/ www.rosegardenbrazil.com

No doubts, but looking at it this way the difference between the price on the pumps from old inglaterra against the US is something shocking!
But yes I know what you mean considering Brazil is self sufficient.

Counting in dollars, prices in Brazil increased during the last couple of years, mainly because the exchange rate is now 1.6 to1 from 3 to1. For instance, a couple of years ago with US$ 3000 I would had R$9000 now just R$4800. We felt the pinch. I found pre-paid cell phones very expensive per minute. I couldn’t buy my domestic flights during promotion period, so I paid expensive tickets too. But, in general prices are cheaper relatively to Europe. In our way back to UAE we had a stop over in Paris (fantastic Paris, cannot buy a house there, but I’ll pay my tributes by buying a Citroen…), for what I paid for a simple meal (ribeye steak, salad, fries) I could get a fabulous meal in Brazil, including dessert, drinks and a fat tip.
Alcohol is a good fuel alternative, it is not even better because the government isn’t selling gasoline for its true higher market value (opportunity cost of selling abroad). It’s a commodity, so has cycles. Recently there is an article on it at:
Biofuels: the sweet smell of power - Telegraph
But I think the best one is this one:
Biofuels in Brazil | Lean, green and not mean | Economist.com

But let me add that prices are increasing everywhere. Here in the UAE, beef prices (from Australia, NZ and Brazil) almost doubled, newspapers are quoting 30% prices increase in basic food (rice,…). Almost everything related to food increased, I can tell that before the trip I paid 11 dirhams for 1 kg of fertilizer for my garden, now it is 27! Just an example.

Beware of the real cost of living in Brazil...

I was in Salvador this past weekend for a friend's birthday and was mugged on the beach. Three guys ran off with my 120 year old gold Albert chain that I was stupidly wearing round my neck. With a value of over £1500, I should have known better, especially as I live in Brazil, but we were all celebrating and were dressed up for the occasion...

Equally stupidly, I gave chase shouting obscenities at these 3 locals, and nearly caught the actual thief who ripped it from my neck before cars on the main road nearly run us both over, and my friends and others wisely convinced me to stop for my own safety.

The theft is irrelevant - the real cost of my stupidity could have been my life...

Sometimes the cost of living in Brazil has to be weighed in different ways.

Hi Debzor,
Certain not suprised by that, I spent a couple of weeks down in Salvador just a couple of weeks ago before coming back upto Fortaleza, and in particular i didnt greatly enjoy Salvador, unlike other of the North East cities I have visited, I found Salvador to be much less friendly in the tourist areas, the beggers to be much more aggressive and the city itself (not Bahia in general) to be in a poor state along the many of the beach areas and the beaches not great either. Hence why many of the holiday packages seemed to be hiden away in the hotel resorts. I was also disapointed with the nightlife in comparrison to fortaleza.
Was it on one of the Barra beaches by any chance?
Regards
Paul

Hi Paul - we were actually staying at the Monte Pascoal Praia hotel on Barra beach (I can pass on contact name for excellent rates if anyone wants), which I cannot fault - it was excellent. However the hotel was let down by the city in general.

I agree with all your comments, and I can see why First Choice send their people up the coast a few miles (50+). There are some excellent restaurants, bars, etc, but there is a constant seedy underside that you only really appreciate when walking along the seafront - answer - take taxis everywhere!

I also found the "traders" much more aggressive, despite speaking a little Portuguese (and being in the company of Brazilians), however the official tourism (buses, etc) were very reasonable, and unbelieveably the lift down to the port area was just R$0.05 each way!!!

Great football matches every morning on the beach outside the hotel (just like Sundays back home!), but we actually wanted to come up to Fortaleza but could not find reasonable flights. Maybe next time...

Oh my incident was just down the road from Barra away from the lighthouse, on Ondina beach, past some of the big hotels near a handful of beach bars. But my fault entirely...

The last time I went to Salvador the taxi driver gave us a lecture on personal safety which is always a bad sign! When we were leaving there was a beggar with his head in the front window of the taxi trying to get money from me, then the taxi driver short changed me by R$5!

Forteleza is a lot safer, but it has only been so in the last year because of the overhaul of the police department.

Debzor, sorry to hear about what happened to you that really sucks.

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Brazil Property | Pipa Brazil | Property Investment in Brazil

It is not just a question of exchange rates that prices have increased(for the overseas traveller),but also for the 185 million brasilians .When you take into consideration that Brasil produces most of what is eaten and considering the minimum salary to be 430,00 reais + ex benefits it is highly unlikely that the 15+ million people on the serious poverty line have much hope for the future( and a large percentage of those are without an income ,but then you have a government that reduces a bank rate from 19.75 %to 19.50% !
I also think that to compare The Emirates to Brasil in terms of what items cost
are so far apart in terms of salary I mean that is why people flock to the Emirates isn't it?They flock to Brasil for it's beautiful nature and easy going way of life .
The massively positive side about Brasil right now is it's concious efforts and campaigns to improve awareness and understanding about nature and the importance of preserving it . This can be seen in all classrooms in schools,universities,driving schools,construction companies etc and that is priceless.