Make your mind up: Brazil

You may be nuts about investing in Brazil, but navigating a suitable route into the market is not necessarily straightforward.

More adventurous souls may want to invest directly in Brazilian companies. John Fitzpatrick, a consultant based in São Paulo, says anybody buying into the Brazilian stock market needs to be aware of its volatility. They should also realise that, with the base rate at 13.25 per cent, most locals keep their money in cash or bonds.

"Inflation is about 5 per cent, so you can get a 5 to 6 per cent return above the inflation rate, making it not very attractive for ordinary people to buy shares," he says.

Nonetheless, he says, several good Brazilian companies are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, which is probably easier for outsiders to gain access to than the local Bovespa exchange. As well as Petrobras, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, the iron-ore group that has just bought Canada’s Inco, Embraer, a maker of regional jets, SABESP, a water treatment company, Aracruz Celulose, which is involved in pulp and paper, and Unibanco, Brazil’s third-largest bank, are traded in New York.