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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 8th 2025 - 00:01 UTC

Brazil

  • Thursday, August 3rd 2017 - 07:01 UTC

    Canny Temer survives vote in the Lower House: “a clear undisputable victory”

    Finally he got 263 votes out of a possible 513 in a process where lawmakers voted one by one, making short, often emotional statements live on national television

    Brazilian lawmakers tossed out a corruption charge against scandal-plagued President Michel Temer on Wednesday, saving the conservative leader from becoming the country’s second leader in 12 months to be forced from office. Despite hugely embarrassing bribery allegations, Temer had been expected to survive.

  • Wednesday, August 2nd 2017 - 07:12 UTC

    To save or not to save Temer, Brazilian lawmakers' challenge in an televised live vote on a bribery charge

    President Temer is facing a vote in the lower house Wednesday on whether he should be suspended and put on trial over a bribery charge

    August has been a devastating month for Brazilian presidents, 31 days in which they have been impeached or resigned. One even committed suicide, Getulio Vargas in 1954, and for Michel Temer's own predecessor, ex president Dilma Rousseff, it was her demise when she was removed last Aug. 31 for breaking fiscal rules in her management of the budget.

  • Tuesday, August 1st 2017 - 06:36 UTC

    Hammond in Brazil announced the doubling of support for bilateral trade

    Chancellor of the Exchequer in Brasilia with his counterpart Henrique Meirelles

    The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has unveiled a series of new commercial agreements with Brazil on Monday, on day one of his visit to showcase British business and deepen trade and economic ties with South America’s biggest economies. Among the measures has been doubling support to £3 billion, to promote bilateral trade.

  • Monday, July 31st 2017 - 08:10 UTC

    Decisive vote in Brazilian lower house for president Temer's future in office

    The Temer administration seems confident that the opposition will not gather the 342 votes - from a total of 513 - required to advance with the corruption charge.

    The Brazilian Congress will return from recess this week and could bring back political uncertainty fears to local markets, as lawmakers are set to decide on Wednesday if the Supreme Court should trial President Michel Temer for corruption. Temer was formally charged with passive corruption by the prosecutor-general Rodrigo Janot at the end of last month.

  • Saturday, July 29th 2017 - 23:29 UTC

    Brazilian budget remains at record breaking deficit

    To avoid disruptions to air traffic control and policing, Planning Minister Dyogo Oliveira said government would shift funds from investments to essential services.

    Brazil posted another large budget deficit in June, the biggest on record for the month, highlighting the government's uphill battle to meet its budget target amid a slow economic recovery. The monthly primary deficit, before interest rate payments, narrowed in June to 19.552 billion reais (US$6.21 billion) from 30.7 billion in May.

  • Friday, July 28th 2017 - 12:06 UTC

    Ex Petrobras and Banco do Brasil CEO, named by Rousseff, arrested on suspicion of bribes

    Petrobras Aldemir Bendine and associates are “suspected of organizing bribes worth 3 million reais” from construction conglomerate Odebrecht.

    Brazilian federal police on Thursday arrested a former head of Petrobras and the Banco do Brasil, marking a new chapter of the sweeping graft probe into the state-owned oil company. Three people were detained in the operation, the prosecutor's office said in a statement, as part of the “Car Wash” investigation that has uncovered systemic corruption and ensnared many of Brazil's political and business elites.

  • Thursday, July 27th 2017 - 14:54 UTC

    Brazil central bank lowers basic rate to 9.25%; expected to reach 8% by end of 2017

    Brazil's central bank cut interest rates below 10% for the first time in nearly four years on Wednesday, keeping a fast pace of monetary easing as plunging inflation gave it leeway to aid an incipient recovery.The bank's nine-member monetary policy committee, known as Copom, cut its benchmark Selic rate by 100 basis points for the third straight time to 9.25%.

  • Thursday, July 27th 2017 - 02:16 UTC

    Prosecution triple budget to combat corruption in Brazil

    High-profile targets of the investigation include ex-president Lula da Silva, former lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha and business mogul Marcelo Odebrecht.

    Brazil’s Attorney General’s office announced on Tuesday that it has tripled its 2018 budget for the investigation into a sprawling corruption scandal that has engulfed political and business leaders across Latin America.

  • Thursday, July 27th 2017 - 01:52 UTC

    Brazilian landless peasants invade soybean plantation owned by Agriculture minister

    Amaggi, the company owned by minister Maggi (Pic), confirmed the invasion of the 480 hectare farm in the central-western state of Mato Grosso

    Hundreds of landless farmers in Brazil have invaded and occupied a soybean plantation owned by a company belonging to Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi. The takeover by some 500 people was organized by the Landless Rural Workers' Movement, which encourages the seizure of farmland it deems unproductive as a tactic to pressure the government.

  • Monday, July 24th 2017 - 08:50 UTC

    Brazil cuts spending and raises taxes, including on fuel, to try and balance the budget

    The increase in the federal PIS/Cofins social contribution tax means higher gasoline, diesel and ethanol prices and its impact on transport

    Brazil's government increased a spending freeze and raised taxes to cover a budget gap this year, reinforcing its commitment to fiscal discipline but dealing a potential blow to fragile economic growth. In a statement by the Finance and Planning Ministries, the government said it will freeze an additional 5.9 billion Reais (US$1.9 billion) in federal spending this year