Brazil

• Monday, April 16th 2018 - 09:05 UTC

  Brazilian electorate cautious, a week after the imprisonment of Lula da Silva

  

  Brazilian voters are abandoning jailed former President Lula da Silva as his chances of running in October fade, but they are not transferring their support en masse to other leftist candidates, a Datafolha poll showed on Sunday. Without Lula in the running, support for far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro has slipped and is now virtually tied with environmentalist Marina Silva in a presidential race thrown wide open, the survey said.

• Monday, April 16th 2018 - 02:10 UTC

  The Economist on Uruguay: some serious shortfalls

  

  The Economist recently published an extremely laudatory article on the performance of the Uruguayan economy in the last fifteen years, much of which can be supported but even more needs to be rectified, quite a surprise coming from a publication known for its research rigor. The piece was titled “Uruguay’s record-setting economic growth streak; How a small country outperforms its neighbors” and was published in the March 28th edition.

• Saturday, April 14th 2018 - 11:22 UTC

  Brazilian state asks Supreme Tribunal to “temporarily” close border with Venezuela

  

  The governor of Brazil’s northern state of Roraima on Friday asked the Supreme Federal Tribunal for permission to temporarily close the only land border crossing with neighboring Venezuela to halt the massive and disorderly arrival of refugees. But Brazil’s President Michel Temer, attending the Summit of the Americas in Lima, said closing the border was “unthinkable.”

• Saturday, April 14th 2018 - 11:10 UTC

  Brazilian Supreme Tribunal: of the eleven Justices, seven were named by Lula and Rousseff

  

  The Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal acts primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country, and its rulings cannot be appealed. The court is made up of eleven members, Justices, addressed to as Ministers, and they are appointed by the president and must be approved by the Senate.

• Saturday, April 14th 2018 - 11:08 UTC

  Brazil's Attorney General charges presidential candidate with racism

  

  One of the front-runners in Brazil's presidential campaign was charged with racism on Friday by the country's top prosecutor. Attorney General Raquel Dodge charged conservative deputy Jair Bolsonaro for statements comparing members of rural settlements founded by the descendants of slaves to animals. Members of the settlements are called “quilombolas” in Brazil.

• Thursday, April 12th 2018 - 09:08 UTC

  Sixty Brazilian members of Congress added Lula to their names

  

  More than 60 Brazilian members of congress from the opposition Worker's Party have formally changed their names. They have added the name 'Lula', after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was jailed last weekend.

• Thursday, April 12th 2018 - 08:56 UTC

  Moody's raises Brazil's sovereign rating from negative to stable

  

  Credit rating agency Moody's this week raised the outlook of Brazil's sovereign rating from negative to stable.

• Thursday, April 12th 2018 - 07:32 UTC

  UK Chief Secretary in Brazil to build relationships and promote investments

  

  UK Chief Secretary Elizabeth Truss is this week visiting Brasilia and Sao Paulo for bilateral meetings with authorities and will follow-up on the second UK-Brazil Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD), particularly on infrastructure. Latest figures show that bilateral trade between UK and Brazil is worth £5.4 billion a year.

• Thursday, April 12th 2018 - 07:28 UTC

  Brazil confirms austerity policy with the new team economic team

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer has officially nominated eleven new ministers, the government's official bulletin said, giving continuity to the government's reform program ahead of the general elections in October.

• Wednesday, April 11th 2018 - 09:11 UTC

  March inflation in Brazil almost flat at 0.09%; Selic rate expected to be cut 25 extra points in May

  

  Brazil's monthly inflation rate slowed dramatically to a nine-month low in March, suggesting the central bank may have been too slow to signal another interest rate cut as the data continued to fall short of its inflation target.