Brazilian President Relaunches public works program

On Friday, the Brazilian President Lula announced the relaunch of a major $348 billion infrastructure investment program. He hopes it will help Latin America's biggest economy get back on the path to growth.

Projects under the public-private Growth Acceleration Pact (PAC) will target energy, road construction, access to water and sewage, healthcare, internet access and education. Previous versions of the program, in 2007 and 2010 had mixed success since a number of planned projects had to be stopped due to lack of financing.

The government plans to invest about 265 billion $ until the end of 2026. One of the priorities of the new PAC is to resume work on projects that were halted due to lack of financing. The largest investment is planned in the construction sector, of which more than half will go to financing social housing program.