BRASILIA - Government price controls may be reimposed on gasoline and electricity, Brazil's incoming energy minister says.   Dilma Roussef, President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's nominee to be mines and energy minister, did not detail how a new pricing policy could look like. But he said the controls were under  consideration.

"To define pricing policies, to define Brazil's petroleum and electric energy policy ... that is the role of the ministry, it's the role of the state," Roussef told television reporters.

Before 2002, the government fixed gasoline and cooking gas prices every couple of months through a complicated pricing system that ran large deficits. The government used the controls to put off necessary fuel price increases and avoid rising inflation.

Brazil's oil and gas sector was opened to full competition in January when previous price regulation was abolished. However, deregulation was criticised after several fuel price increases by state oil firm Petrobras have accelerated the country’s inflation rate.

Electricity price increases so far are granted to energy companies by Brazil's energy regulator without the approval by the ministry of mines and energy, a method Roussef criticized as well.

On Sunday, Petrobras raised the cost of gasoline at the pumps nearly 10% and the price of cooking gas for consumers nearly  5%.

Sapa-AP

Tuesday December 31, 9:02 AM A Wall Street Journal Online News Roundup

Americas markets ended higher, led by Argentina on confidence it would seal a debt rollover accord with the International Monetary Fund. Argentina faces a Jan. 15 deadline to make a $1 billion payment to the Washington-based agency.

Production Minister Anibal Fernandez told local radio stations that pressure from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations was prodding the IMF toward an accord.

ADVERTISEMENT "I don't have doubts that things are in place to sign a short-term accord, thanks to the pressure of the G-7," he said. The G-7 is an organization of some of the world's most economically powerful nations, made up of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan.

Rafael Ber, senior analyst at Argentine Research, said the positive IMF news meant stocks should end the year Tuesday on a happy note. "The climate among investors is positive right now," he added. "...The market's ending the year with a bit of hope."

The key Merval index rose 1.4% to 525.09, as Telecom Argentina climbed 3% to 1.69 pesos and electricity firm Central Puerto rose 5.3% to 79 centavos.

In Brazil, shares ended the last session of 2002 with a small gain in thin pre-holiday trade ahead of a change in government on Jan. 1. The key Bovespa index ended 0.3% higher at 11,268.

Investors will keep close tabs on President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during his first weeks in office, looking for hints about his team's economic policies. A key concern at this critical moment of transition is Brazil's rising inflation.

In Canada, the key Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index rose 21.72 points, or 0.3%, to 6617.55. Markets were pushed higher by a positive U.S. market, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29.07 points, or 0.4%, to 8332.85.

Energy stocks led the pack in Toronto, as concern about a possible U.S. war on Iraq and the general strike in Venezuela continued to weigh on investors. EnCana rose 55 Canadian cents to C$48.66, while Canadian Natural Resources climbed 75 cents to C$47.20.

Mexican shares ended slightly lower.

Copyright (c) 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

12/30/2002 - Source: Latin American Newsletters

President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has named his entire cabinet. However, no members of the PMDB have been made ministers, making it hard for Lula's government to secure a majority in congress.

President-elect Lula delayed announcing his ministerial team until the last minute, in the hope that he could reach an agreement the centrist PMDB, the largest party in the senate and the third-largest in the lower house. The negotiations collapsed because the PMDB was split between pro- and anti-Lula factions.

Without the PMDB, Lula's alliance of leftwing parties does not command a majority in either house and the government will be forced to construct temporary alliances with opposition parties on each vote. The PT and its allies (PL, PPS, PDT, PSB, PTB, PCdoB) are 29 short of a majority in the 513-seat chamber of deputies and 13 short in the 81-seat senate.

THE CABINET. The cabinet is dominated by Lula's workers party (PT), although some of the key posts have gone to business leaders, giving the team a whiff of corporatism. Petista António Palocci had already been announced as finance minister and notable among the new appointees was Guido Mantega as planning minister. Both men are longstanding PT members, but are known as pragmatists and in the run-up to the elections impressed investors with their emphasis on prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The incoming trade and industry minister Luiz Fernando Furlan is the chairman of the giant Brazilian food exporting company, Sadia, and the new agriculture minister, Roberto Rodrigues is head of Brazil's agribusiness federation.

In the absence of the PMDB, almost all the second-rank ministerial posts, including labour, mines and energy, health, education and social security have been given to petistas. The only exceptions are transport which has gone to Partido Liberal's Anderson Adauto and communications which has been given to the PDT's Miro Teixeira.

Lula has ensured that all his leftwing allies have a seat at the cabinet table, although some have been given fairly low-ranking briefs, such as tourism and sport. Former presidential candidate Ciro Gomes, of the populist PPS, has been appointed minister of national integration.

December 30, 2002, 17:15

President Thabo Mbeki and Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will attend the inauguration on Wednesday of Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva as Brazil's new president. Da Silva, a former metalworker and trade unionist, was elected president on October 27.

"The participation of President Mbeki and his delegation in the inaugural ceremonies of the new Brazilian president is expected to further cement the already excellent relations between South Africa and Brazil," says the department of foreign affairs.

Formal diplomatic relations between the two countries date back to 1948. Brazil was, in later years, at the forefront of calls for the isolation of the apartheid government, said a foreign affairs statement. "Since the transition to a democratic South Africa, bilateral relations between South Africa and Brazil have normalised rapidly, and evolved to a level that could be described as strategic."

The first meeting of a joint commission created to boost bilateral co-operation took place in Brasilia in August. South Africa considers Brazil as a strategic country being the largest economy in South America and playing a prominent role in world diplomacy, the department said. Among other things, Brazil has been a driving force in the promotion of South Africa's relations with countries that make up the South American trade bloc, Mercosur.

Brazil - SA's biggest Latin America trading partner "In view of Brazil's historical link to Africa and its large population of African descent, Brazil is potentially a significant partner in achieving the objectives of Nepad (the New Partnership for Africa's Development)." The department said Brazil was South Africa's biggest trading partner in Latin America. South African exports to that country reached their peak in 1996 with a total of $414 million.

More than a quarter of this figure was represented by industrial alcohol, which Brazil used in its fuel pool. South African exports to Brazil for the following four years were $367 million, $278 million, $172 million and $228 million respectively.

Major South African exports to Brazil included precious and semi-precious stones, metal, anthracite and coal, iron and steel, chemical products, organic chemicals, aluminium, nickel, synthetic fibres, machinery and mechanical appliances, paper and paperboard. Imports from Brazil increased by almost 85% between 1993 and 1997. In 2000, exports to South Africa stood at $302 million a trade surplus of $74 million in Brazil's favour. South Africa imported from that country mostly vehicles and vehicle components, aircraft, machinery, mineral fuels, electrical machinery, animal and vegetable fats and oils, meat, ores, organic chemicals and tobacco. - Sapa

President George W. Bush today announced his designation of four individuals to represent the United States at the Inauguration of His Excellency Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, on January 1, 2003.

The Honorable Robert Zoellick, United States Trade Representative, will serve as the leader of the delegation.

The Honorable Donna Hrinak, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil The Honorable Michael B. Enzi (R-WY), United States Senate The Honorable John Maisto, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, National Security Council