WC slows regular business in 3 Latin American countries

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) : Lucky students in Chile went home early, many Brazilian offices and stores went dark, and across the megalopolis of Mexico City traffic was as calm as midnight. With three Latin American countries playing for their World Cup futures , fans across the region succumbed to soccer fever, slowing regular business to a crawl.
Brazilians, who already are used to generous time off for Carnival celebrations and Catholic observances, have enjoyed even more holidays during the month-long  tournament.
When Brazil's national team plays, many workplaces across the country shut down. In host cities such as Rio de Janeiro, the government declared half- or full-day holidays on game days to clear the streets of commuters and enable fans to move about with greater ease.
On Monday, before Brazil defeated Cameroon 4-1 in Brasilia, Catia Santiago was soaking up the sunshine on the golden sands of Copacabana beach rather than head to work to sell hair products.
"I'm going to take a hit financially," Santiago said. "I'll probably earn about 30 to 50 percent less, but I will have had 200 percent more fun than usual."
Financial newspapers have reported the volume of trade on Sao Paulo's Bovespa stock exchange began to slow even before the June 12-July 13 tournament. Fecomercio, a Sao Paulo-based group representing the goods, services and tourism sectors, warned that those businesses may lose up to $13.5 billion due to lost productivity and the need to pay double salaries to people who work government-declared holidays.
However, Brazil's Tourism Ministry has said the World Cup itself will inject that much money into the nation's economy, offsetting any such losses.
Katia Andrade, a saleswoman for a Rio online data storage company, complained that the extra time off was putting her way behind on her yearly revenue target.
Mexico City started to resemble a ghost town by midday Monday as locals geared up for the afternoon game between Mexico and Croatia in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, which Mexico won 3-1.
After the game, thousands of fans wearing the national team's green jersey and waving Mexican flags jammed the traffic circle around the Angel of Independence statue on the capital's main avenue, disrupting traffic in the business zone.