Brazil hit back Tuesday at European reluctance to finalize a trade deal between the EU and Mercosur blocs over concerns about Amazon deforestation, saying a French report on the issue was motivated by “protectionist interests.”
Brazil’s government is on course to post a primary budget deficit of 861 billion reais (US$ 157 billion) this year, the Economy Ministry said in its bimonthly revenue and expenditure report on Tuesday, factoring in extended emergency transfers to the poor through the end of December.
A major U.S. asphalt company agreed to pay US$16.6 million in fines while pleading guilty Tuesday to federal charges that it paid millions in bribes to officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela for almost a decade to win lucrative contracts.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro defended his administration’s record protecting the Amazon rainforest, telling the United Nations’ virtual meeting of global leaders on Tuesday that his country has been wrongly portrayed as an environmental villain. Bolsonaro’s critics were quick to pick apart his claims.
With stockpiles of oilseed at their lowest in decades, Brazil's Bunge SA is processing soybeans from Paraguay, and now also from Uruguay, which also plants over a million hectares of the oilseed.
Brazil and Argentina, Latin American nations seeking more time to commit to the global COVID-19 vaccine facility known as COVAX, said they intend to so as soon as possible after missing Friday’s deadline.
Brazilian oil company Petrobras said on Monday it will open another round of bidding for its Repar refinery in the state of Parana after receiving binding offers that were too similar in value.
The United States reported last week the sale of 30,000 tons of rice to Brazil. This follows on the decision from the Brazilian Chamber of Foreign Trade (Camex) to slash tariffs on rice to zero, helping to reduce the price of the grain for consumers.
Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva has offered to back any candidate who can beat far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in the upcoming 2022 elections. Lula is currently barred from seeking elected office as he is fighting two criminal convictions for graft that bar him from running. He can run himself if he is able to overturn the convictions, but he also faces five further indictments.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is scheduled to undergo surgery to remove a bladder stone on Friday, a doctor for the Brazilian leader said on Sunday. Bolsonaro will check in to a hospital in Sao Paulo on Thursday to prepare for the procedure and will be hospitalized until Saturday or Sunday at the latest, said Leandro Echenique, one of several doctors on Bolsonaro's medical team.