Brazil

• Wednesday, June 7th 2017 - 07:18 UTC

  Brazilian meat packer Minerva buys JBS plants in Mercosur member countries

  

  The Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS says it has sold its units Mercosur members, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to companies controlled by a rival meat processing company in Brazil. JBS said in a Tuesday securities filing that it sold meat processing plants in the three countries for US$300 million to Minerva in Sao Paulo state.

• Tuesday, June 6th 2017 - 07:03 UTC

  Temer receives 84 questions from the federal Police; he has 24 hours to reply

  

  Brazilian media are reporting late Monday that the country's federal police have asked embattled President Michel Temer 84 questions related to an investigation of corruption allegations against him. Temer has faced growing calls to resign amid the scandal. He has 24 hours to reply to the questions delivered Monday afternoon.

• Monday, June 5th 2017 - 08:29 UTC

  Decisive week for Temer's presidency; Electoral Court could have him ousted

  

  Brazil's Michel Temer is already fighting a devastating corruption scandal, but this week he faces a more immediate threat: a court ruling on whether he should even be president. The case in the Supreme Electoral Tribunal or TSE was long considered a slow-burning sideshow to the developments in Brazil's corruption revelations, which have now reached the top.

• Sunday, June 4th 2017 - 12:57 UTC

  Brazilian police arrests close friend and aide of president Temer

  

  Brazilian police have arrested Rodrigo Rocha Loures, a former congressman and close friend of President Michel Temer. Rocha Loures was seen in a video released in May carrying a bag with 500,000 Brazilian Reais (US$154,000).

• Sunday, June 4th 2017 - 12:07 UTC

  Brazil record trade surplus and industrial production up 0.6% in April

  

  Encouraging news for Brazil's economic recovery: industrial output increased in April for the first time since December and the trade surplus rose to a record US$ 7.661bn during May, according to government data. Exports boosted by a record soy crop and rising auto sales reached US$ 19.8bn and imports US$ 12.2bn

• Friday, June 2nd 2017 - 08:15 UTC

  Relief for Temer: Brazilian economy grew 1% in first quarter of the year

  

  Brazil's economy grew by one percent in the first quarter of 2017, ending eight consecutive quarters of shrinkage in the country's worst recession in history, the state statistics office said Thursday. While not definitively ending the recession, the spike in growth offers another glimmer of light for Latin America's biggest economy -- and could throw a lifeline to President Michel Temer as he tries to fend off a huge corruption scandal.

• Thursday, June 1st 2017 - 07:09 UTC

  JBS meatpackers agree to pay record fine of US$ 3.2bn for corruption practices

  

  J&F Investimentos, controlling shareholder of the world's largest meatpacker JBS SA,, agreed to pay a record-setting 10.3 billion real (US$3.2 billion) fine for its role in corruption scandals that threaten to topple President Michel Temer. The settlement meant Brazil's sweeping graft investigations have now led to the world's two biggest leniency fines ever levied, Brazilian prosecutors said.

• Wednesday, May 31st 2017 - 22:06 UTC

  Brazil cuts Selic rate to 10.25%, lowest since December 2013: slowing inflation and gradual recovery

  

  The Central Bank of Brazil unanimously cut its key Selic rate by 100 basis points to 10.25 percent on Wednesday May 31st of 2017, as widely anticipated. It is the sixth straight rate decline, bringing borrowing costs to the lowest since December of 2013 amid slowing inflation and a gradual recovery.

• Wednesday, May 31st 2017 - 07:19 UTC

  Brazilian president ordered to reply in writing questionnaire from Federal Police

  

  Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered President Michel Temer to be questioned in writing, the latest development in an explosive corruption scandal that has him fighting for his political life.

• Tuesday, May 30th 2017 - 09:29 UTC

  New Justice minister and personal friend of Temer triggers concerns in corruption investigators

  

  The union representing Brazil's federal police investigators expressed concerns on Monday about how probes into government corruption will be handled by the newly named justice minister, who is a personal friend of President Michel Temer.