Brazil's industrial production dropped in February after a momentary uptick at the beginning of the year, as factories and mines braced for what economists say could be the country's worst year in more than two decades.
The Brazilian Petroleum Institute, or IBP, has called on the government to change the regulatory framework to deal with the crisis caused by the collapse of oil prices and the corruption scandal at state-controlled oil giant Petrobras.
Brazil's government will do whatever it takes to meet its 2015 fiscal target, President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg News.
Brazil's state-run National Development Bank posted healthy profits Monday, but indicated losses of some 800 million dollars on its stock in Petrobras, whose market value has plunged on a graft scandal and lower oil prices.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, AIIB, seen as a challenge to existing institutions the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, has drawn a cool response from the United States, despite which European U.S. allies including Britain, France, Germany and Italy have already announced they would join the bank.
Brazil's economy grew just 0.1% last year, barely keeping the country out of a recession, the government's statistics bureau said on Friday. It was the worst result since 2009 and bad news for President Dilma Rousseff, whose popularity has plummeted along with Brazil's economic performance.
Brazilian authorities on Thursday said they uncovered a tax fraud scheme at the Finance Ministry's tax appeals board that may have cost taxpayers up to 19 billion Reais (5.96 billion dollars).
Brazil's private sector believes the depreciation of the Real against the dollar can help spur a manufacturing sector recovery even though the business climate has been affected by the Petrobras scandal, an official with the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, Fiesp, said.
Brazil's economy will contract 0.5% in 2015 and inflation will climb to 7.9%, ending the year far outside the tolerance range, the Central Bank admitted on Thursday in its latest quarterly inflation report.
Brazilian engineering firm Galvao Engenharia said on Wednesday it filed for bankruptcy protection, as state-run oil company Petrobras cut off payments due to a broad corruption scandal in which it had been implicated.