The return of investors and the favourable momentum for capital market growth were highlighted during the Panel on "Long-Term Investment", which opened the second day of sessions of the Brasil Investment Forum 2017 in São Paulo.

BNDES director and interim president, Ricardo Ramos, stressed the renewed interest by long-term investors, "who look to Brazil beyond the 2019 and 2020 horizon, thinking 20 or 30 years in the future”. The BNDES will be a differentiated partner at this time, leaving its former role of financier of up to 90% of projects to focus on being a sort of structurer of the capital market.

“We can say that there is a lot of opportunities because there are many gaps, a lot of investment needs. And BNDES has an important role, not only in relation to national investors, but also in relation to foreign ones, "said Ramos.

The World Bank's vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar, said the Bank has been working with local institutions such as BNDES to try to mitigate some risks for investors. “We know that some projects, due to their magnitude, can be more complex. That is why we have developed tools that help with transparency and in offering guarantees," he said.

“Foreign investor confidence in Brazil is coming back. We have seen this in our conversations with executives outside the country," said Hélio Magalhães, Citigroup's Country Officer for Brazil. He told the audience he was recently in New York for a round of meetings with US investors, and that interest in the Brazilian economy is resuming.

“We had these same conversations about 18 months ago, but at that time expectations regarding Brazil were extremely negative. Since then we've had reforms, and the recovery of the economy. Investors are understanding the scale of the changes," said the Citibank executive.

According to Santander CEO Jose Antonio Alvarez, Brazil has all the main favourable conditions required for attracting long-term investments: sound financial institutions and a reliable regulatory framework. For the future, he says, it is necessary to invest in strengthening the institutional framework, for which health, education and security are the main indicators of a good place to invest.