Global financial crisis weighs on Brazilian carnival
Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 20:50 IST
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Sao Paulo: The global financial crisis will be felt this year at Brazil's Carnival due to the reduction in sponsorships for samba schools. The carnival will be celebrated all over the country Feb 20-24, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported in its online edition Sunday. The prices to create the traditional floats and costumes have risen 70 percent, the price of steel 7 percent and imported fabrics 30 percent, because of the depreciation in the Brazilian currency reai vis-a-vis the US dollar. The $5.1 million that the state-run petroleum company Petrobras contributed in 2008 to the Independent League of Samba Schools, or Liesa, in Rio de Janeiro - the largest and most important in the country - was cut this year as a result of the crisis. "This, without any doubt, is one of the most difficult carnivals in history. The schools have smaller budgets and I asked that the quality of the show not be compromised," said Liesa president Jorge Castanheira. Only the Grande Rio school was able to secure considerable financing this year, taking in 2.2 million reais (about $939,800) from companies in the city of Niza, because its theme for this year's carnival is France. The Viradouro school, which this year is paying tribute to the northeastern state of Bahia, received no support at all from companies from that region. The Rio city hall provided some $1.7 million, but it was delayed by a month and the prices of the materials rose in the interim. The government of Rio de Janeiro state will contribute about $2 million, which along with the television rights and the sale of tickets to the Marques de Sapucai sambodrome, will provide each school with about $1.4 million. Rio's main store for carnival items for the public - Casa Pinto - has seen sales fall by 15 percent so far this year, along with a rise of 12 percent in fabric prices and 25 percent in feathers and decorative jewellery and associated items. Spain's Olga Gilbert, which makes masks, said that production for 2009 has been 350,000 units, practically the same as last year, which means that the accelerating growth trend of the past few years has stagnated. The export of carnival masks to Spain, which are then distributed in other European countries, fell by 30,000 units to just 5,000 this year. The Brazilian Hotel Association has calculated a reduction of 20 percent in room bookings during the Carnival season this year.
Source: IANS
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