Brazil

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 22:02 UTC

  Minister Swire visit confirms close UK links with Sao Paulo university and research centers

  

  Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for Latin America, Hugo Swire is in Sao Paulo the last leg of this latest South American tour that had him in Asuncion, Paraguay and the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Brasília in the beginning of the week.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 21:46 UTC

  Brazil industry production unexpectedly stalls in August

  

  Brazilian industry production unexpectedly stalled in August, as factories reduced the output of consumer goods. Industrial output was unchanged in August after tumbling a revised 2.4% in July, the national statistics agency said in Rio de Janeiro.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 21:24 UTC

  Brazil offers Paraguay Mercosur chair, but apparently Argentina is not convinced

  

  Brazil offered Paraguay the rotating chair of Mercosur as of next December, as part of an overall understanding to have the landlocked country return to the block, while accepting the incorporation of Venezuela as a full member of the group. Paraguay rejects Venezuela’s membership alleging it was done against the will of its Senate and in breach of national and international law and of the Mercosur charter.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:29 UTC

  Collapse of a 35bn dollars empire; Brazil’s Eike Batista defaulted on 45 million interest payment

  

  Two days ago, former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista crossed a line. He started to default on a 45 million dollars interest payments on his oil and gas company, OGX's, bonds. The default will be official on October 30th, according to Bloomberg. That leaves bondholders, like PIMCO, the largest bond fund in the world helmed by legendary investor Bill Gross, taking a massive hit. And what's worse is that there could be more to come, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:23 UTC

  Brazil, a giant but with “a lot of fat and much in the way of muscle”

  

  Brazil, Latin America's largest economy is in dire need of structural reforms and reduced government bloat to fuel sustainable growth, analysts say. And this will not happen overnight and will take massive political will. A giant but it carries “a lot of fat and not much in the way of muscle”.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:17 UTC

  Moody’s lowers Brazil’s credit rating to stable from positive: rising debt and weak growth

  

  Brazil’s currency Real declined from its highest level in two weeks after Moody’s Investors Service cited rising debt and weak growth in lowering its outlook on the country’s credit rating to stable from positive.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 22:51 UTC

  Brazil oil and gas output reached an average of 2.495 million boepd during August

  

  Brazil's oil and natural gas output rose for the second time in three months in August as new output from giant offshore fields barely outpaced declines from the depletion of older areas and maintenance, oil industry watchdog ANP said this week.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 22:50 UTC

  Rousseff names top military officer as head of the Olympic Public Authority

  

  President Dilma Rousseff nominated a senior army officer to fill one of the top roles in organizing the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Major General Fernando Azevedo e Silva’s appointment to head the Olympic Public Authority, which coordinates the work of state and local governments, has gone to Brazil’s senate to be ratified, the nation’s official gazette said.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 16:22 UTC

  Chevron reaches negotiated settlement in Brazil oil spill case after two year legal battle

  

  A Brazilian federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against US oil company Chevron Corp after approving a negotiated settlement, a decision that closes a nearly two-year legal battle over an oil spill in November 2011.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 16:11 UTC

  Petrobras readies 60th anniversary announcing a million barrels production increase by next year

  

  Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras, which will mark its 60th anniversary on Thursday, has announced it will increase production by 50% in an effort to overcome the current situation. Nine production units now being installed will pump an additional one million barrels a day beginning next year said Petrobras CEO María das Graças Foster.