Brazil’s police investigation into insider trading by the owners of the world’s largest meatpacker JBS SA has found that they made a profit by taking financial positions before details of their plea bargain deal with prosecutors became public, the head of the probe said on Tuesday.
Brazilian Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said on Thursday “there’s a very good chance” that the country’s proposed pension reform bill will be approved by the end of the year. Addressing a question-and-answer session at an Institute for International Finance meeting in Washington Meirelles said that it would be simpler to pass the bill this year than next year because of political challenges that could come with Brazil’s upcoming presidential election in October 2018.
Global food prices rose slightly in September, as firmer prices of vegetable oils and to a lesser extent dairy products offset declining prices for staple cereal grains. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 178.4 points for the month of September, up 0.8% from August and marking a 4.3% increase from a year earlier.
Brazil’s lawmakers can’t duck their responsibility to pass belt-tightening measures, central bank President Ilan Goldfajn told a Senate hearing in Brasilia this week. Reform proposals, particularly a constitutional amendment to limit pension spending, will help keep inflation low, reduce the structural interest rate and buoy the country’s overall recovery, Goldfajn said.
Auto industry leaders projected sales and output growth of more than 10% in Brazil next year at an industry event on Monday, underscoring hopes for a rebounding market as Mercedes-Benz announced new investments in bus and truck plants.
A Brazilian congressional report recommended on Tuesday that President Michel Temer should not face trial for obstruction of justice and membership in a criminal organization, arguing that the charges against him were unfounded.
Agricultural powerhouse Brazil aims to revive ties with Africa after a lull and sees a vast export market for food and manufactured goods in a continent whose population is surging, its foreign minister said.
A political campaign fund set up in Brazil with public money to help fight corruption is not big enough for the country’s 2018 general election, the head of the country’s top electoral court said. Brazil’s scandal-plagued political class voted to establish the 1.7 billion Reais (US$542 million) fund to finance election campaigns after corporate donations were banned in the wake of the country’s biggest ever corruption scandal.
In a move that critics say impinges on the legitimacy of democracy, the Brazilian Congress has approved legislation allowing parties and candidates to force social media outlets to censor offensive or critical content by anonymous authors.
The chairman of Brazil’s Olympic Committee, who helped organize the Rio 2016 Games, submitted his resignation on Saturday, saying he wanted to concentrate on defending himself against corruption charges.