Rio de Janeiro, Feb 28 (IANS): Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has said the government seeks to boost total investment to 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"We have made a huge effort in infrastructure and we want this effort to pay off, (and) it is impossible to continue transporting minerals and grains only via highways," Rousseff Wednesday told a meeting of the Economic and Social Development Council (CDES) in Brasilia.
She also said the government plans to announce new tax cuts to stimulate investment.
At the same meeting, Fernando Pimetel, Brazil's development, industry and trade minister, said the investment in Brazil should grow 30 percent by 2016, or reach 3.8 trillion reals ($1.9 trillion) over the three-year period, driven by infrastructure and industry sectors.
"We are convinced that in 2013 and in the next few years, there will be growth in investment in infrastructure, industry and other sectors as well," he said.
The current investment rate of South America's largest economy stands at around 20 percent of the GDP, according to Brazil's finance ministry.
Economists in Brazil say the country is about to hit a bottleneck of economic expansion and needs to bolster investment to accelerate growth.
Pimentel indicated that the government is providing solutions to boosting economic growth, and now it needs businessmen to jump on the bandwagon.
The government earlier announced several measures to increase the competitiveness of the Brazilian industry by improving efficiency of transportation and logistics networks.
Brazil's GDP growth registered a tepid 0.7 percent from January to September last year, and the full year growth would not exceed 1 percent, analysts say.