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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 25th 2024 - 06:11 UTC

Brazil

  • Friday, July 3rd 2015 - 07:12 UTC

    Petrobras investigation looks into corruption by a dozen foreign companies

    Zelada, head of Petrobras international division 2008/2012, appeared to have received bribes on a contract with US companies

    Brazilian police on Thursday arrested Jorge Zelada, former director of Petrobras' international division, as part of an ongoing investigation into bribery and corruption at the state-run oil producer, prosecutors have said. Zelada is suspected of money-laundering, appropriating public funds, corruption, tax evasion and contract fraud.

  • Thursday, July 2nd 2015 - 06:04 UTC

    Brazil's budget during May back in the red; Congress restless about austerity

    A drop in tax revenues caused by a sharp economic contraction is complicating minister Levy's efforts to shore up the country's finances

    Brazil reported a primary budget deficit for May that was its widest for 2015, making its annual savings goal more difficult to achieve despite government efforts to raise taxes and cut spending. Central bank data showed a primary budget deficit of 6.9 billion Reais ($2.23 billion). This compared with a primary surplus of 13.445 billion Reais in April.

  • Wednesday, July 1st 2015 - 05:52 UTC

    Obama and Rousseff agree their nations are 'natural partners' and working on an 'upward trajectory'

    “I believe that this visit marks one more step in a new more ambitious chapter in the relations between our countries,” Obama said.

    President Barack Obama and visiting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sought Tuesday to cast their nations as “natural partners” collaborating closely on critical issues like climate and regional diplomacy, glossing over recent tensions over spying that have strained relations between the first and seventh world economies.

  • Wednesday, July 1st 2015 - 03:26 UTC

    Brazil celebrates the opening of the US market for its fresh beef

    Brazil expects to export 100,000 tons of beef to the US in the next five years. Abreu said the decision is like “getting a pass code” to access other markets.

    U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Monday that it is amending its regulations to allow imports of fresh (chilled or frozen) beef from (Argentina) and 14 states in Brazil. It's “the first step in a process for these regions to gain access to the U.S. market for beef”, the APHIS said in a statement.

  • Tuesday, June 30th 2015 - 06:14 UTC

    Petrobras drastically cuts investment by 37% in next five years

    “The investment portfolio will give priority to petroleum exploration and production projects in Brazil, with the emphasis on the pre-salt”

    State-controlled oil giant Petrobras, which is mired in a corruption scandal that has rocked Brazil, said Monday it was cutting investment by 37% during the 2015-2019 period. Investment during the period will now total $130.3 billion, down from the $220.6 billion originally planned, Petrobras said in a filing with the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

  • Monday, June 29th 2015 - 06:08 UTC

    Loathed at home, Dilma Rousseff tries to rebuild image among US investors

    Rousseff, who arrived Saturday, kicked off her US visit by meeting Sunday in New York with a group of about 20 Brazilian business leaders.

    Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff met Sunday with investors in New York on the first day of a long-delayed US visit aimed at overcoming strains caused by the NSA spying scandal. Revelations two years ago that the US National Security Agency electronically eavesdropped on Rousseff's email and other communications prompted her to angrily call off an official visit to Washington that had been set for October 2013.

  • Friday, June 26th 2015 - 06:23 UTC

    Petrobras bribery case reaches US courts on investors' class action lawsuit

    Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras urged a U.S. judge on Thursday to throw out an investors' class action lawsuit claiming a multibillion-dollar bribery scandal overvalued it for years. Speaking at a hearing in federal court in New York, Petrobras lawyer Roger Cooper said the company itself was a victim of the fraud, which he said was orchestrated by a handful of individuals.

  • Thursday, June 25th 2015 - 07:33 UTC

    Brazilian central bank inflation estimates anticipate increase in interest rates

    The Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will meet in late July to adjust the benchmark interest rate, currently at 13.75%

    The Brazilian Central Bank on Wednesday raised its inflation estimate for 2015 to 9%, or almost double the midpoint in the official range and well above the 6.5% top end target, and said the economy may contract by 1.1% this year, marking the worst performance since 1990.

  • Wednesday, June 24th 2015 - 08:38 UTC

    Petrobras scandal ramifications getting closer to Lula da Silva

    The former president is linked to lobbying for the Odebrecht Group to obtain public works projects in Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Ghana.

    One of Brazil's leading weekly magazines, Epoca, has revealed that former president Lula da Silva could be investigated over corruption allegations following on the imprisonment of the Odebrecht Group CEO, (Marcelo Odebrecht) which is one of the country's largest private corporations and employers, and for which Lula did much lobbying and sponsoring for public works projects in Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Ghana.

  • Wednesday, June 24th 2015 - 08:29 UTC

    Workers Party is old and out of touch, “an internal revolution is needed”, blasts Lula da Silva

    “We have to define whether we want to save our skins and our jobs or if we want to save our project,” Lula da Silva said in Sao Paulo

    Former President Lula da Silva again blasted Brazil's governing Workers Party, an organization he founded, as old and out of touch. “We have to define whether we want to save our skins and our jobs or if we want to save our project,” Lula da Silva said in Sao Paulo during a seminar on democracy, which he attended along with former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez.