Brazil

• Wednesday, May 21st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Petrobras orders revive Brazil's shipbuilding industry

  

  Brazil's government managed corporation Petrobras announced plans to order 40 drilling ships and platforms worth an estimated 30 billion US dollars for delivery by 2017. The deep-water drilling ships and semi-submersible rigs will explore for oil and gas in seas up to three kilometers deep.

• Tuesday, May 20th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Army to protect the Amazon, promises Brazil's new minister

  Brazil's recently named Environment Minister pledged Monday to aggressively fight illegal logging and deforestation in the Amazon rain forest. Former Rio de Janeiro state Environment Secretary Carlos Minc is expected to take the post on May 27.

• Saturday, May 17th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's Real rises to nine-year high; up 19% in 12 months

  Brazil's Real rose to a nine-year high as the US dollar slumped and investor demand for commodities and higher-yielding assets increased. Last April 30 Standard & Poor's upgraded Brazilian debt sending the Real and the Sao Paulo Bovespa stock index to new records.

• Thursday, May 15th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's ready to increase interest rates to contain inflation

  Brazil's Central bank chairman Enrique Meirelles said this week that the bank is ready to cap pressure on prices with the purpose of keeping inflation under control even when this could impact on the strong economic growth of the economy.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's warning message about Bolivian separatism

  Brazil's Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim said that South America would never accept “separatism in Bolivia” and underlined that any autonomy must be negotiated with La Paz, reports O'Globo.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Sugar cane becomes Brazil's second energy source

  Sugar cane and cane-based ethanol became a more important energy source than hydroelectric power in Brazil's overall energy production last year, topped only by petroleum and oil products according to a report from the government's energy planning agency, EPE.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's April annualized inflation climbs to 5.04%

  Brazilian Consumer Prices Index experienced its biggest increase in four months in April, 0.55% (up from March's 0.48%) because of higher food costs, according to the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.

• Wednesday, May 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil working on idea of a sovereign wealth fund

  Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced in Brasilia that the government is working on creating a sovereign wealth fund of as much as 20 billion US dollars. The fund would help finance overseas investment and acquisitions by Brazilian companies.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Japan and S. Korea interested in Brazil's bullet train

  

  Japanese and South Korean corporations announced their interest in Brazil's first bullet train which is expected to be set to bid in the first quarter of next year. Brazil's cabinet chief Dilma Rousseff is currently visiting Japan where she was approached by the corporations.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  European MPs visit Brazil to address beef and bio-fuels

  

  A delegation of 12 European Members of Parliament are currently in Brazil to assess livestock and beef conditions, and the bio fuels industry. The visit is considered significant because Brazil has only just managed to resume beef exports to the EU after Brussels imposed last February a temporary ban based on sanitary rules.