Suframa, and local politicians, talk of an export boom solving the Zona Franca's problems.

ECONOMIST: Brazil��s industrial policy

Factory bosses in Manaus privately complain that benefits from tax breaks are largely offset by the suffocating effects of Suframa's huge bureaucracy.

ECONOMIST: Brazil��s industrial policy

To minimise fiddles and allegations of screwdriver plants, Suframa already requires firms to submit detailed plans of exactly which manufacturing processes they will use in their Zona Franca plants.

ECONOMIST: Brazil��s industrial policy

Nilton Sacenco, Suframa's deputy superintendent, says that new rules will distinguish between a computer with good speakers (tax breaks available all over Brazil) and a domestic appliance with added Internet access (tax breaks in Amazonia only).

ECONOMIST: Brazil��s industrial policy