Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment process and possible suspension from office is back on track after the acting speaker of the Lower House, Waldir Maranhao repented and withdrew his controversial decision to annul an April 17 impeachment vote.
Brazilian markets weakened on Monday after the acting lower house speaker in Brazil's Congress annulled an impeachment vote, though losses were pared as investors bet the move would delay rather than prevent leftist President Dilma Rousseff's removal from office.
Brazil's Senate forged ahead with impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff on Monday, rejecting a surprise decision by the acting speaker of the lower house, who tried to annul a key vote just days before the president could be suspended from office.
Waldir Maranaho's acting speaker post in Brazil's Lower House and his decision to annul the April 17 impeachment procedure vote against Dilma Rousseff, could be on the fire line, and even the countdown, following on fourteen parties decision to impede him from acting, according to Veja, Brazil's leading magazine.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Brazil's sovereign debt further into junk territory on Thursday, citing a deeper-than-expected economic contraction and changing fiscal targets that have undermined credibility. The agency downgraded Brazil to BB from BB+ with a negative outlook a week before a Senate vote that is expected to lead to the suspension of unpopular leftist President Dilma Rousseff.
JBS SA, the world's largest beef producer, denied a Saturday newspaper report that it had made illegal payments for President Dilma Rousseff's 2014 reelection campaign. O Globo newspaper, citing leaked testimony given to federal investigators by Monica Moura, the wife of Rousseff's campaign chief Joao Santana, earlier reported that JBS paid the Rousseff campaign's debt to Focal, a Sao Paulo-based visual communications firm.
The deputy from the ruling Workers’ Party has appealed to Brazil’s Supreme Court in an effort to block the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff ahead of Wednesday’s Senate vote.
Argentina’s credit rating was raised to B- from selective default by S&P Global Ratings, which cited the country’s payment last Thursday of $2.7 billion of past-due interest on bonds in default since July 2014.
A former Brazilian finance minister and the current head of the nation's state economic and social development bank allegedly pressured big construction firms into making campaign donations for President Dilma Rousseff, a newspaper reported on Sunday. If it proves correct it would be the first concrete lead linking the Petrobras corruption with BNDES, long suspected by Brazilian prosecution.
A Brazilian government led by Vice-President Michel Temer would consider allowing foreign owners to acquire a controlling stake in local airlines, one of his closest aides revealed. Wellington Moreira Franco, a chief economic adviser for Temer and a former aviation minister, said relaxing the current limits on foreign ownership would help bolster competition in an industry suffering its worst crisis in decades.