Brazil's economy grew by one percent in the first quarter of 2017, ending eight consecutive quarters of shrinkage in the country's worst recession in history, the state statistics office said Thursday. While not definitively ending the recession, the spike in growth offers another glimmer of light for Latin America's biggest economy -- and could throw a lifeline to President Michel Temer as he tries to fend off a huge corruption scandal.
J&F Investimentos, controlling shareholder of the world's largest meatpacker JBS SA,, agreed to pay a record-setting 10.3 billion real (US$3.2 billion) fine for its role in corruption scandals that threaten to topple President Michel Temer. The settlement meant Brazil's sweeping graft investigations have now led to the world's two biggest leniency fines ever levied, Brazilian prosecutors said.
The Central Bank of Brazil unanimously cut its key Selic rate by 100 basis points to 10.25 percent on Wednesday May 31st of 2017, as widely anticipated. It is the sixth straight rate decline, bringing borrowing costs to the lowest since December of 2013 amid slowing inflation and a gradual recovery.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered President Michel Temer to be questioned in writing, the latest development in an explosive corruption scandal that has him fighting for his political life.
The union representing Brazil's federal police investigators expressed concerns on Monday about how probes into government corruption will be handled by the newly named justice minister, who is a personal friend of President Michel Temer.
President Michel Temer urged Brazil's top electoral court to decide quickly on a case alleging illegal funding of his 2014 campaign in order to lift political uncertainty overshadowing a recovery in Latin America's largest economy.
Brazil's economy is clearly growing again after a severe recession and will be shielded from a political crisis by widespread support for the government's reform agenda, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said, despite the fact Moody's on Friday announced it was lowering the country's credit outlook.
Argentine federal agents searched the offices of the Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht in Buenos Aires on Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged bribes in the granting of construction contracts for a water treatment plant.
Three ex Brazilian presidents are holding talks on the future of the country following what seems the inevitable outcome of the current political situation with deep differences between the political system and the Judiciary.
Brazil's President Michel Temer called troops back off the streets of the capital Thursday after deploying them to guard government buildings following riots by protesters demanding he quit. A decree published online in the official journal said the president had revoked an earlier measure to deploy 1,500 federal troops -- a delicate issue in a country with living memory of a military dictatorship.