Sao Paulo

Gilberto Kassab was re-elected for a new term as Mayor of the city of São Paulo; Kassab’s office will go from January 1st 2009 through December 31st 2012.

Kassab was elected in 2004 as vice-Mayor of the then winner candidate Jose Serra. In 2006, Serra ran for the Government of the State and won; as Serra took the office of Governor, Kassab took office as Mayor.

Kassab is affiliated with the Party Democratas (Democrats), one of the most conservative (right wing) in Brazil (Democratas used to be called PFL, Party of the Liberal Front). Kasseb’s opponent in the second round of the elections was Marta Suplicy, candidate by powerful Party of Workers, the party of President Lula; despite ostensive presence of the President in the campaign, Kassab won by a margin of 61% of valid votes against 39% for Marta.

Kassab was born in 1960, and graduated in Engineering and Economy at the University of Sao Paulo. Kassab was elected in 1989 to Councilman of the city, then had offices as State Representative and Federal Representative.

The most controversial incident during the campaign occurred when Mrs. Suplicy suggested that voters should ask themselves whether Kassab was married or had children.

Many people then learned that Kassab was never married and is not married. Despite rumors, Kassab neither confirmed nor denied to have a male partner. Kassab said that his personal life was not in discussion. The voters of São Paulo agreed with him, and gave him a massive victory in the elections.

Newspaper O Globo published a report today informing that taxis in São Paulo are the most expensive in Brazil. And the long traffic jams, usual in the city, make the situation even worse; this happens because the taxi fares have three components: a starting fare (called “bandeirada”), that passengers pay just for boarding the taxi; a fare per kilometer; and a different fare, per hour, which starts to add automatically to the meter as soon as the speed falls below 20 km/h (12 mi/h).

Below, comparison of taxi prices in a few Brazilian cities (bandeirada + price per km + price per hour at low speeds):

São Paulo:  R$ 3,50 + R$ 2,10 + R$ 28,00

Rio de Janeiro: R$ 4,30 + R$ 1,25 + R$ 15,75

Porto Alegre: R$ 2,76 + R$ 1,37 + R$ 10

Brasília: R$ 3,30 + R$ 1,40 + R$ 18

Recife: R$ 3,00 + R$ R$ 1,40 + R$ 11

Natal: R$ 3,00 + R$ 1,71 + R$ 17,54

On top of that, passengers start to pay a 50% surcharge as soon as the taxi leaves the city of São Paulo and enters a neighbor city, such as Guarulhos and São Bernardo. And, of course, there is a weekend and late night surcharge (called Bandeira 2), of 40%.

The high prices are causing a decrease in the number of passengers. According to the taxi drivers Union, there were about 800,000 passengers a day back in the 1980s, which dropped to about 350,000 nowadays. Many passengers today are employees of corporations (which pay the bills) or attendants of events.

To celebrate the anniversary of the city of São Paulo, on January 25th, the Federation of Commerce of the State prepared a report with interesting data about the importance of the city in Brazil’s economy, which showed that, measured by the size of the Economy, São Paulo is bigger than 22 American States.

The Gross Product of the city of São Paulo reached R$ 263.2 bn in 2005, or US$ 102.4 bn; for conversion, the study used the average rate of 2005, US$ 1 = R$ 2.57. If the current rate, of about US$ 1 = R$ 1.80 were used, then the Product would be even bigger, about US$ 146 bn.

If the city of São Paulo were a country, its economy would be the 47th in the world, bigger than Egypt and Kuwait, about the same size as Hungary or New Zealand, about 85% of Israel. The economy of São Paulo would also be bigger than 22 of the American States, including Hawaii, Georgia and New Hampshire.

In 2005, the economy of São Paulo was 12.3% of Brazil. It is the second biggest in Brazil, 7% bigger than the State of Rio de Janeiro and 37% than the State of Minas Gerais. It is comparable to the size of Chile, and five times as bigger than Uruguay.

In 2005, the city of São Paulo collected R$ 90 billion in taxes, and the budget of the city spent R$ 15 billion; these figures show that São Paulo contributes to wealthiness distribution.

Other economic and financial information about the city of São Paulo

São Paulo is the biggest city in Americas and the third biggest city in the world, with 11 million inhabitants.

São Paulo has 1,500 bank branches. There are 70 shopping centers. Of all the international companies with business in Brazil, 63% have their head offices in São Paulo.

The Bolsa de Mercadorias e Futuros (Commodities and Futures Exchange) is the sixth biggest in the world, by number of contracts. In the Bolsa de Valores (Stocks Exchange) , R$ 6 billion (US$ 3.5 billion) change hands every day.

There are about 30,000 millionaires living in São Paulo, 60% of all millionaires in Brazil.

Every business day, half a million people go to 25 de Março (photo), a street of popular commerce in downtown. According to Mystery Shopping International, the Rua Oscar Freire is one of the eight most luxurious in the world. São Paulo has a car dealer specialized in Ferrari and Maserati.