Analysts expect Brazil's economy to contract by 3.21% this year, with the outlook worsening from last week, the Central Bank said this week. Seven days ago analysts said they expected Brazil's economy to contract by 3.01% in 2016.
Brazil's Tiete-Parana waterway, a key transport corridor for soybeans, corn, cellulose, fertilizer and other agricultural products, has reopened after a 20-month closure due to drought and the use of water for electricity, the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported this week.
Brazil's inflation rate rose to a 12-year high, officials said on Friday, as Latin America's largest economy continues to struggle through a protracted recession. Driven by rising food prices, the annual inflation rate hit 10.71%, the highest since November 2003 and well beyond the central bank's target ceiling of 6.5%, said national statistics institute IBGE.
Net savings withdrawals in Brazil rose to a record high in January, with deposit outflows exceeding inflows by 12.03 billion Reais (some $3.09 billion), the Central Bank said Thursday.
Brazil's corrupt government is hurting the country's business sector, including in agriculture, the head of one of the world's biggest tractor-makers said. Martin Richenhagen, chairman and CEO of Agco, manufacturer of Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra machinery, claimed he tried, and failed, to persuade Brazil's government to speed up the payment of agriculture support programs used by farmers for funding equipment purchases.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff implemented a nationwide mandate this week allowing government health workers to enter private properties to crush Zika breeding grounds. Exterminators now have the right to inspect and disinfect households, even without the presence of its owners.
Brazil's federal police have included former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an investigation into the possible use of bribes to influence the passage of legislation benefiting the auto sector, a court document showed on Thursday.
Two of the 46 Chileans arrested on Monday for vandalism against a Malvinas Fallen Monument in Argentina's second largest city, Rosario, were still waiting on Tuesday for the prosecutors' charges before going before a federal judge. During the first hearing, advised by a government supplied lawyer, the Chileans abstained from making any statement while demanding to be set free.
Brazilian Congress gave on Tuesday a harsh welcome to President Dilma Rousseff at its yearly inaugural session, booing her and threatening new difficulties added to the turbulent relations that prevail between the executive and legislative branches.
Industrial output in Brazil fell for a seventh straight month in December, capping the worst year for manufacturers in more than a decade as they struggle with inflation, high interest rates and political uncertainty.