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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 13th 2025 - 19:54 UTC

Brazil

  • Tuesday, January 16th 2018 - 09:52 UTC

    Support for Lula's presidential bid despite his corruption conviction

    The petition titled “Election without Lula is a fraud”, comes ahead of a January 24 court ruling on his appeal of a nine-and-a-half-year jail sentence issued last July.

    Four South American ex-presidents are among more than 170,000 people who signed a petition supporting former president Lula da Silva bid for another term as Brazil's president, despite his corruption conviction. US film-maker Oliver Stone also signed the online petition supporting Lula, whose electoral aspirations are at risk of being blocked.

  • Tuesday, January 16th 2018 - 09:48 UTC

    Petrobras and Total confirm completion of Strategic Alliance involving US$ 1.9bn

    Petrobras has now transferred to Total 35% of rights, as well as the operatorship, of Lapa field in Block BM-S-9A in the Santos Basin pre-salt

    Petrobras has completed the previously announced sale of shares in several Brazilian fields to France’s Total for US$1.95 billion it was confirmed. The deal was announced as part of the two companies’ Strategic Alliance, signed in March 2017.

  • Tuesday, January 16th 2018 - 09:44 UTC

    Meirelles brushes aside impact of S&P's lower rating: 'growth will continue'

    “The reaction to the rating is greater than the rating itself,” Meirelles said. “The question is, ‘Will this have an impact on growth?’, ‘No, growth will continue.'”

    Brazilian Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said that a recent decision by Standard & Poor’s to cut the nation’s credit rating will not affect 2018 economic growth. Speaking to journalists in Rio de Janeiro, Meirelles added that he was expecting close to 2.5 million jobs to be created in Brazil this year and GDP growth of around 3%.

  • Tuesday, January 16th 2018 - 09:34 UTC

    Economic activity in Brazil expands for third month running

    Brazil’s GDP likely grew 1% last year, snapping a two-year period of contraction as slow inflation and record low interest rates propped up consumer spending.

    Economic activity in Brazil expanded for a third straight month in November, the longest stretch of gains since 2014, suggesting strong momentum at the end of the year. The central bank’s economic activity index rose 0.49% from October after seasonal adjustments

  • Monday, January 15th 2018 - 10:33 UTC

    Brazil forecasts 110m tons of soybeans and 25m tons of corn in 2017/18 harvest

    Yields are now seen at 3,156 kg/ha, up from 3,123 kg/ha in December, but below the record of 3,364 kg/ha in 2016-17, when nearly perfect weather helped crops.

    Brazilian official crop agency Conab has raised its crop estimates for soybeans and corn in 2017-18, as improved weather boosts yields and planted areas are revised higher.
    Conab said in a monthly report that the current soybean crop, which was already planted and is under development, will reach 110.44 million tons, up from 109.18 million tons in December but still below the record of 114.08 million tons in 2016-17.

  • Friday, January 12th 2018 - 10:58 UTC

    S&P downgrades Brazil's credit rating; delay of pension system reform takes the blame

    The decision underscored concerns that a business-friendly reform agenda proposed by unpopular president Temer may stall this year

    Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Brazil’s credit rating further below investment grade on Thursday as doubts grew about a presidential election in October and a push to trim its costly pension system, seen as vital to closing a huge fiscal deficit. S&P lowered its long-term rating for Brazil sovereign debt to BB- from BB previously, with a stable outlook, citing less timely and effective policymaking. S&P also cited a risk of greater policy uncertainty after this year’s elections.

  • Friday, January 12th 2018 - 10:26 UTC

    Brazilian inflation ends 2017 at 2.95%, below the bottom of central bank target

    In a monthly comparison, Brazil's CPI rose 0.44% in December, accelerating from a 0.28% increase in November, said the IBGE. Analysts expected a 0.30% growth.

    The annual inflation rate in Brazil increased to 2.95% in December, from 2.50% in November, rising above economists' projections of 2.80%, but ending the year below the bottom of the central bank's target for 2017, which ranged from 3% to 6%.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:19 UTC

    Brazil looks into the past to implement legislation punishing political “fake news”

    “In the next few days, the Federal Police will begin activities in Brasília by a specially formed group to combat false news during the 2018 election process”

    Brazil is the latest country to unveil plans to censor the Internet, following in the footsteps of Germany, France, and other European countries. Earlier this week the country’s official Twitter account for the Federal Police, (equivalent to FBI), announced efforts to “punish” anyone who disseminates political content it deems “false.” The federal government of Brazil is extending its ability to enforce regulation and control of its sector of the Internet.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:12 UTC

    Weddel seal ends on the mid Atlantic Brazilian island of Trindade

    The polar mammal had travelled more than 5,000km north of its Antarctic habitat; more than 1,500 kilometers beyond the farthest north previous record in Uruguay.

    The Brazilian Navy spotted something unusual in the azure waters of the South Atlantic. In 2015, at a remote outpost and biological research station on the island of Trindade, 1,100 kilometers off central Brazil, sailors spotted a small gray seal swimming in the waves. Two days later, they found its body on the island’s Catelha beach. Scientists who went to take a closer look made an astonishing discovery—the corpse was a young Weddell seal.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:11 UTC

    US, via Paraguay, largest source of guns entering Brazil

    Guns from US generally enter Brazil through direct shipments of assembled weapons, of gun parts or indirect shipments through a third country, Paraguay

    The United States is the largest source of guns entering Brazil that end up in the hands of armed bandits and drug traffickers, according to a Brazilian Federal Police report. Roughly 1,500 guns originated in the United States out of a study of more than 10,000 arms seized by police since 2014, mostly in Rio de Janeiro, the December 2017 report said, although the guns often traveled through a third country before arriving in Brazil.