Brazil's economy grew 1.35% in 2012, above the market forecast of 1 percent, according to the Central Bank estimate. The official and final figure will be released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) on March 1.
Brazil and Russia signed several agreements in different fields geared to increase trade and to advance in defense, energy and agriculture cooperation, including the purchase of Russian anti aircraft missile batteries on condition that Moscow agrees to transfer technology.
Famed Cuban dissident Yoani Sanchez defended before the Brazilian Congress the end of the US economic embargo and called for the closing down of the US Guantanamo military base.
Mercosur will retake next March technical discussions for a new proposal to be presented to the European Union for a trade and cooperation agreement, announced Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman next to his peer Antonio Patriota following bilateral talks on Wednesday in Rio do Janeiro.
Brazilian farmer groups are opposing a contract that Monsanto the world’s biggest seed company is offering farmers to end a dispute over royalty payments on its genetically modified soybean seeds. Monsanto is trying to resolve uncertainty over its ability to collect fees on its new Intacta soybeans, which it is scheduled to start selling in Brazil during the next growing season.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line to make good on her promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil. Even when announcing she has almost met her anti-poverty target halfway through her four-year term, Brazil’s last census points to 700,000 families who still live in extreme poverty but are not registered on government social programs.
Former Brazilian environment minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva has launched a new political party with an eye on next year’s presidential elections. The new party is called “Sustainability Network.” It was launched in Brasilia at a meeting of politicians, congressmen and other Silva supporters.
Brazil this year will harvest the largest grain and oilseed crop in the country’s history, which could reach 185 million tons, according to an announcement from President Dilma Rousseff during her weekly radio message.
Brazil’s Finance minister Guido Mantega in Moscow for the G-20 meeting, said that inflation above the government's target raises a yellow flag and that monetary policy, not the exchange rate, is the right tool to control prices.
Elite police commando units fanned out across the streets of the Brazilian southern state of Santa Catarina over the weekend in an attempt to contain a wave of violent attacks over the past two weeks.