Rolling blackouts swept across parts of Brazil as the grid operator ordered select power cuts to avoid a larger crisis, drawing attention to a fragile electric system that is buckling under the strains of record-breaking heat and dryness.
Brazil's central bank is expected to raise interest rates for a third straight meeting this week to quell any doubts about its commitment to ending years of high inflation.
President Dilma Rousseff expressed Saturday her dismay and indignation after learning of the execution of Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira in Indonesia and recalled her country's ambassador to Jakarta for consultations.
Brazil’s energy minister this week threw his support behind the CEO of Petrobras, the embattled state-run oil company embroiled in a vast corruption scandal that has dominated national headlines. Maria das Graças Silva Foster will keep her job as CEO, the minister said, despite growing demands for her resignation.
The corruption scheme in Brazil's leading corporation Petrobras could exceed 28 billion dollars, making it the largest corruption scandal that the country has ever seen. The development was reported through an interview by Reuters of Brazilian police officer, Erika Marena, investigating the corruption probe.
Bilateral trade between Mercosur two main partners, Brazil and Argentina (first and third largest economies in Latin America) dropped 21.2% last year and with a 139 million dollars deficit for Argentina, according to the Argentine Commerce Chamber, CAC.
Brazil's finance minister said on Tuesday a program of targeted tax increases was designed with the intention to not harm fragile growth in Latin America's largest economy. Joaquim Levy also pledged 'fare realism' for electricity bills and fuel prices based on 'business reasons'.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has instructed a budget cut which affects 39 ministries, reducing their funds by a third, in order to save a figure estimated at 703 million dollars per month.
The sale of cars, commercial vehicles, trucks and buses in Brazil dropped 7.15% last year compared to 2013, and reached 3.498 million according to the Brazilian federation of car dealers, Fenabrave. It is the largest drop for the industry in twelve years and the second consecutive fall.
Land possession has caused the first clashes in the newly named cabinet of President Dilma Rousseff with Agriculture minister Katia Abreu arguing there are no large estates ('latifundium') left in Brazil, while her Agrarian Development peer and a stalwart from the ruling party said a social approach was needed to the land and peasants issue.