Brazil tapped into its sovereign wealth fund and state companies’ profits in an effort to meet its 2012 fiscal target.
Brazil posted its smallest annual trade surplus in a decade last year as a sluggish global economy curbed demand for its products despite government efforts to boost exports. Brazil's trade surplus fell 35% to 19.44 billion dollars from the prior year, the weakest performance since 2002, Trade Ministry data showed on Wednesday.
President Jose Mujica anticipated that the Argentine economy can’t remain ‘closed for much more time’ (protectionist) and forecasted that 2013 will be a ‘clear year’ for Uruguay regarding economic issues.
Economists cut their estimates for economic growth in Brazil to 0.98% this year, a central bank survey showed, highlighting the sharp slowdown of an economy that just a couple of years ago was an emerging market star.
Brazil on Friday named its World Trade Organization envoy Roberto Azevedo to succeed Pascal Lamy as head of the Geneva-based trade oversight body. Brazil's ambassador to the WTO since 2008, Azevedo has been tackling the country's cotton subsidy dispute with the United States.
Brazil's central bank announced it would cut reserve requirements on demand deposits under specific conditions to free up around 15 billion Reais (7.3 billion dollars) for lending in a move aimed at boosting investment in the stagnating economy.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who survived lymphoma cancer in 2009, was pronounced healthy by doctors after a routine exam. Rousseff's health was within normal levels, according to a statement released by her office following the check-up at the Sirio-Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo, one of South America's leading cancer treatment centers.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world's largest lender by market value, got the green light from Brazilian regulators to operate a subsidiary in the Latin America's largest economy, the lender said on Wednesday. Brazil's central bank approved the license on Dec 19.
Brazil's government announced on Monday it would raise the statutory monthly minimum wage by an above-inflation 9% to 678 Reais (330 US dollars) a month, a rise that comes at the end of a year of tepid economic growth.
The world’s top beef exporter, Brazil, will give countries that curbed imports of its beef after a case of mad cow disease until March to drop the measures or it will file a complaint at the World Trade Organization, farm ministry officials said.