Bianca Nasser CFO and head of IR, Votorantim Cimentos Bianca Nasser has been global CFO and investor relations officer for Votorantim Cimentos since March. She was previously CFO and investor relations officer at development bank BNDES responsible for finance, accounting, tax, investor relations and the office of the controller, and worked for Petrobras from 2002 to 2019, latterly as executive manager of corporate finance and treasury. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from UFRJ, th

The importance of Brazil to South America and the wider world is undeniable. It is home to around half the continent’s population, covers half its geography and contributes about half its GDP. It wields huge political and economic power in the region, while the proportion of the Amazon rain forest in its territory means it plays a global role in realising the world’s climate change ambitions. Its political history has been volatile, with frequent allegations of corruption against its

Pandemic performance Like the rest of the world, Brazil was severely impacted by Covid-19. A questionable governmental response to the pandemic resulted in the country recording some of the world’s highest death tolls, while the economy experienced a severe contraction in gross domestic product due to the combination of falling external and internal demand and a precipitous drop in commodity prices. Along with its global peers, the Brazilian government moved to mitigate the consequences of