The first part of the plan, to be announced on Wednesday, includes privatising about 14,000 kilometres of railways and roads. 

 

The privatisation of ports, lower energy costs and incentives¹ for industry will soon follow.

 

The package is designed to boost what have been disappointing growth levels. 

 

President Dilma Rousseff has invited 50 leading Brazilian businessmen to the capital Brasilia where she will personally launch the new strategy.

 

In May, she brought the businessmen to the presidential palace - the Planalto - to ask them what was needed to stimulate² the economy.

 

Growth in Brazil is predicted to be under 2% this year, the weakest annual performance since 2009 and a sharp slowdown from an impressive 7.5% rise in 2010.

 

Prior to these measures, the government had been counting mainly on rising levels of domestic consumption - fuelled by credit growth and rising income among poor Brazilians - alongside investments by state companies.

 

Although the previous strategy had helped Brazil become the sixth largest economy in the world in 2011, overtaking Britain, the government has not been able to maintain high growth rates. 

 

The recent weak growth has been attributed mainly to rising debt rates among the population and the global downturn, which reduced demand for Brazilian products.

 

Expensive energy, poor infrastructure³ and increasing labour costs - known here as 'Custo Brasil' or the 'Brazil Cost' - have also weighed on growth, analysts⁴ say. 

 

Now the government will increase the role played by private investors⁵, who were seen to have lost ground during the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president from 2003-2010. 

 

President Rousseff was his chosen successor, but she is seen as a tough and pragmatic（实际的） decision maker⁶ when it comes to economic policy. 

 

In February, the government granted three of the largest airports in the country to private companies, hoping to improve overstretched（过分伸展） facilities before the 2014 Football World Cup.

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